


Road to Power

by Chaos65



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Infinity Stones, Magic, Voldemort's son, mixed universes, road to power
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:20:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 50,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26682052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chaos65/pseuds/Chaos65
Summary: When I died, I was quite sure that hell was all that waited for me. I definitely didn't expect to wake up in the body of Voldemort's son in a universe that shouldn't even exist. I guess it is time to get to work, I won't die again.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 64





	1. Son of who?

Dying, such an interesting process that no one really knew much about. How could we, if the people who experienced it were no longer with us. Scientists could do as much research as they wanted, but they would never find out what a dying person thought and felt right before death. And they would never find out what exactly happened to a person after they departed.

Most of the world's population believed in one of many religions and thought that after death they would go to their respective afterlives. Others think that death was the final end and there was nothing after it, and some just lived their lives without carrying about death.

Me?

Well... Currently, I was pretty sure that the second group was right. If not then how would you explain the endless darkness I was currently in?

I died young, no older than twenty-five. I wasn't your definition of a good person, maybe not by choice, but I didn't really care after a few years of dealing with the darker parts of our world. That was what I had to do and there was no escaping it when you were as deep as I was. At least my life wasn't boring and I had a lot of free time.

That was why when death claimed me I thought, "Well shit, hell here I come." Of course like I previously said, it didn't happen.

Maybe it was some sort of punishment, to be alone forever and go mad from talking to myself. I was probably right and whoever came out with this punishment could kiss my ass. I wouldn't surrender that easily and somehow get out of here... If it was even possible.

The moment my last thought left my mind I felt my body - or whatever I was now - being sucked by a very strong vacuum. I didn't know what the hell was going on, but I couldn't fight this so I surrendered myself to the process.

When the feeling disappeared, a blinding light filled my vision, and before I could even react something changed.

No longer was I in endless darkness, but a small room with a bed, wardrobe, and a desk with a mirror above it filled my vision. It definitely wasn't any of my rooms and when I raised my hands to my eyes, I knew that something was definitely wrong.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any time to ponder on those things as a moment later my entire being was filled with pain. Memories, images, and thoughts not my own appeared in my mind, and before I knew my entire body shut down.

_Good luck._

* * *

"Logan, wake up. Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes," a soft voice said some distance away from me.

I groggily opened my eyes to the sight of the same room and a tall, older woman who was waiting for my answer. As I wasn't too sure what the hell I should do I answered simply to get rid of her for now, "Okay, give me five minutes." Oh god, I had the voice of a kid. What else?

The woman nodded and walked out of the room. I breathed a sigh of relief and took this moment to think.

I definitely wasn't in my old body, which shouldn't be possible and I had a bunch of memories that for sure weren't mine. I only saw brief flashes of them, but if I was to believe in them then I wasn't even in my old world as I didn't think that Voldemort was alive there.

How did I know that? Well, this knowledge came with even more facts that were making me even more disbelieving.

Whoever put me in the body of this kid also gave me all of his memories and when I said all, I meant it. I was sure that a child wasn't meant to remember what happened soon after its birth, but surprise, surprise, I knew.

Thankfully I didn't see the moments that would probably scar my mind, but I saw who my parents were and why I was even born.

My father was no one other than Lord Voldemort. I probably should be either excited or scared, but I was more indifferent to this fact. Yeah, if it wasn't a dream then I was happy that I wasn't dead and someone put me in the universe of Harry Potter. But Voldemort was one of the most idiotic villains I ever saw, so you would need to forgive me for not overreacting.

My mother was Bellatrix Lestrange, the madwoman to whom I surprisingly owe my life. You see Voldemort wanted a child for a ritual, but he needed a female, so when I was born a male - thank god for small mercies - he told Bellatrix to get rid of me. The madwoman, in spite of herself, couldn't kill her own child so she left me in one of the Children's homes in London.

Ironic? Probably, but I was alive thanks to her actions.

So that was how I knew that I was in Harry Potter's universe. I wasn't sure about the timeline as the memories after I was left in the Children's home were a mixed mess. I knew that after Bellatrix left me here, they named my Logan Hunt and the kid was pretty quiet and kept to himself. I was fine with that as it gave me a reason to stay alone and maybe no one would notice any changes.

Well, I should probably get up and at least see how I looked now. The memories didn't give me a clear image.

With that thought, I got off the bed and walked to the mirror. I almost fell down during my first steps as I wasn't used to the change in height and body mass.

When I finally go to the mirror, I noticed that my memories were about right and I was about eleven years old. I didn't know my exact birth date, but the staff in the Children's home told 'Logan' that he was born on the 20th of June, which was probably the date he was delivered here. I could probably find out 'my' real birth date through the goblins or ministry if at least one of the fanfictions I read had a good idea of how the world worked.

Apart from that I mostly looked like a young Tom Riddle, with pale skin, very short jet black hair, and tall build. The main difference between us was the color of the eyes. While young Tom had dark eyes, mine were vermilion colored. Probably a mix between Bellatrix and Voldemort's red eyes. To be honest I looked better than I did in my last life and that was quite sad to admit...

"Alright, I can be vain about my looks later. I need to get familiar with this place," I murmured to myself as I gathered some new clothes from the wardrobe. To my surprise, the clothes didn't look like they were taken from the '80s or the '90s, but more like clothes that I was used to in my old life. A welcome surprise.

After I was dressed in a simple t-shirt and jeans, I finally went out of my room in the direction where food was served. It took me some time as my new memories didn't help much, but I was alright with that. I need to map the building anyway, my old habits required this from me.

As I arrived in the cafeteria I was hit with a bit of nostalgia. Not that many years ago I was in a similar situation in my old world. I guess some things never changed...

Not that I was complaining, I was already used to this type of life so I didn't really care if I was again living without parents. In my current situation, it was even better as I was a mentally grown-up man in a world of magic that hid endless possibilities, I didn't need anyone breathing down on my neck.

Now I just needed to find out if I was born during the first blood war or when Voldemort came back for the short few years. I didn't know how the hell my memories somehow lacked almost any type of date.

Thankfully I spotted one of the caretakers reading a newspaper, so before I sat down to eat, I politely asked if I could read it after the woman finished it. She looked at me questioningly, but after a moment she nodded, and halfway through the breakfast she gave me the paper.

When I saw the date in the newspaper my eyebrow rose.

_30th of May, 2006. So I was born after Voldemort was resurrected... This means that my 'father' is dead and my knowledge of the HP-verse won't help me too much. Shit..._ I thought after giving this new discovery a bit of thought. It could be fun to meet the characters from the books, but I would just need to settle on seeing their older selves.

Just as I planned to put away the newspaper, something in it caught my eye.

_Tony Stark presents his new weapons that will help the military against the increasing number of terrorists._

That wasn't something that I expected to read in a newspaper in Harry Potter's universe. What the hell was Tony Stark doing here? Was it just a coincidence and the man only had the same name as the Marvel hero?

I quickly scanned through the rest of the paper and came to the conclusion that no, it wasn't a coincidence, but the real Tony Stark. Apart from that, I found a very interesting report showing that a weird 'Green Sasquatch' was spotted in Canada. For me, it looked like a very bad picture of Hulk.

_Dear God, what did I get myself into? A world full of monsters, gods, magic, and heroes. I am having second thoughts about my new situation. With all the shit that can happen in both MCU - and I really hope that it is MCU and not the whole Marvel universe - and HPU it could be really hard to somehow not end up dead again. Now I am not even sure if Voldemort is really dead and the HP timeline wasn't just moved a bit forward...  
_

While this thought would probably make most of the people nervous or scared, I was not one of them. No, my whole life was one big challenge and now I was going to show the new fucked up universe that even though I might be weak now. I was not going down without a fight.

I was going to do everything to escape death again and for that I needed power.

_Fuck, I am thinking like Voldemort..._


	2. New World

All of the information I gained from my reading of the newspaper, didn't disappear from my mind through the entire breakfast. Thankfully no one noticed my faraway expression that surely was visible on my face. It was still a bit mindboggling that I was in a world that was a combination of Harry Potter's and Marvel's universe.

After I woke up in this body and found out about my new fate as Voldemort's son, I was already quite dubious about this whole thing. Was it really possible to get reborn in a fictional universe?

Most of the evidence I could gather showed that yes, I was somehow reborn. I remembered most of my old life, the moment of my death, and finally the time I spend in the endless void. If that was all a dream then I must have taken something really strong before going to sleep. At this point, it was just easier to believe this wasn't a dream and I was really stuck here.

Like I previously mentioned, the change of the world and body wasn't too concerning for me. My old life wasn't that good and no one is gonna miss me. At least here I got a clean slate and could do whatever I wanted... if you ignored all of the monsters, secret agencies, and godlike beings that existed in this universe.

Thankfully I didn't need to interact with any of those beings in the nearest future so I had time. With my new magical ancestry, I knew that there had to be many ways for me to reach the power levels of those monsters. And if I couldn't find any? Well, I would create them myself. After all, magic was vast and almost nothing should be impossible with it.

_The question is where to begin?_ I wondered as I walked back to my room. Thankfully it was Saturday so I didn't need to go to the school that the kid was attending. If it wasn't for the fact that the school would for sure have a library, I would be very frustrated. But as I needed more information about the history of this world, I would suck it up and go to school...again. Besides if I was magical then I would be going to Hogwarts after this summer.

When I arrived in 'my' room - it would take some time to get used to my new character - I began searching through everything that was in it. I needed to know if the kid had any things that could be of any use to me. I really doubted that, but even some money would be nice.

In the end, I only found clothes, school books - that didn't really have anything useful in them - some older toys, and money. There wasn't much of it, but it was a start.

After I completed the search, I sat on the bed and began planning my next moves.

I definitely needed to do something with the mess in my head. I couldn't think properly with all of the memories flashing through my mind. It was distracting and annoying. I didn't know shit about the workings of the mind so I was pretty out of my depth here.

The only thing I could think of was occlumency and even then I wasn't sure. In canon Occlumecy only mentioned the closing of one's mind so no one would be able to invade it. But in the fanfictions, I read in my free time, everyone made occlumency some super complicated art. And while I should probably trust canon more, I just couldn't believe that one of the mind arts would rely only on clearing one's mind.

Yeah, not buying it.

Unfortunately, I didn't have anyone to teach me and I had no way of gaining any information on the art. Occlumency was said to be a rare skill, so there was no way I would find it in just any book in Diagon Alley and I had no plans of going to the darker parts of the wizarding world before I could defend myself.

So for now, I was stuck with the exercise of clearing my mind and the multiple ways of occlumency form fanfictions. I just hoped that at least one of them was partially true.

With that somehow planned, there was one more thing I needed to know now.

Wizarding World's timeline.

While it would be interesting to go to Hogwarts with the future generations and Voldemort dead, I would prefer if the timeline was adjusted so Harry would be somewhere around my age. Of course, it wasn't about meeting the characters from the books, but about the events that happened in the canon when Harry was there.

Yeah, the war would come, Voldemort would rise again, but Harry could deal with him again or even I could kill him if he got in the way of my plans. With my foreknowledge, it wouldn't be that hard, and even though I plan to change some things, they shouldn't make Voldemort change his plans. After all, I would be a muggle-born kid in the background. A disguise would be enough to protect my identity when I was doing something out in the open.

With that said I really needed to know the current timeline. It wasn't really that hard to accomplish as I could just go to Diagon Alley or to Privet Drive and see if Harry was there.

Both of those options were currently unavailable to me as I was too far from both of those places and if I was gone for a whole day, the caretakers would get suspicious. So my last option was to wait for my Hogwarts letter and then go to Diagon Alley with a professor.

That would probably be the best plan of action. It would give me enough time to get familiar with this new world and body, and maybe experiment with magic a bit if it was even possible.

_Alright, now I at least have some sort of plan. Time for the next part, which would be me getting familiar with this place._

That was easy to do as every child now had some time to themselves so I could use it and explore both the building and the area around it. It was always important to know your way around the place you were living in. You never knew when such knowledge would be useful and I was aware from my own experience that it could save my life.

* * *

The area around the Children's Home was quite nice and easy to remember. From what I gathered the building was placed in one of the better parts of the cities, so I at least didn't need to worry about some idiots walking around there during the day.

Apart from that I also saw some shops that could be useful later on, a small park that was visited by a large number of people, and of course the school I would need to attend soon. I also wanted to find a map of the city as I wasn't too familiar with London myself, but that could just wait until school where I would be able to check it out on the internet. From what I remembered they had some computers available to everyone in the library.

As my task was done earlier than I expected, I came back to my room and decided that it was as good as ever moment to find out if I even had magic. Who knew, maybe the switch made the body lose the magic. It all mostly depended on how I was transported here and if I was to believe the weird voice I heard when I arrived here, then it must have done that. After all, why would it wish me good luck?

Now there was one important problem with what I wanted to do. I had no clue how to really bring out the magic without a wand or a deeper knowledge about the workings of magic. I knew some things from canon - and they weren't too useful as like always they didn't go too much into detail - and again I had some knowledge from the multiple fanfictions.

If I was to be honest, I again hoped that fanon was at least a bit right and wizards really had some sort of magical core. I was quite sure that if I had something like this inside me then it would be easier to use it instead of somehow manipulating the energy around me.

"Okay, I can make assumptions after I found out if I had magic, for now, let's try some things," I murmured and sat cross-legged on the bed. Maybe meditation would help, even if I had zero experience in the art.

After about twenty minutes of sitting still and trying to find any weird feeling inside my body, I finally gave up. This definitely wasn't working and I was just wasting time.

So as this method was out, it was time to try out something more practical. I took one of the pens I possess and placed it before me. Then I focused on the three things that almost every fanfiction out there preached about.

Will, imagination, and power.

Cliche as fuck, but I didn't really have any more ideas. The first two weren't too hard to provide, but the third could be a problem as I still didn't know how to use my magic.

From there I began the long process of glaring at the poor pen that wouldn't move even an inch. It was just lying there and mocking me how I couldn't do anything. After more than an hour of this - I was really determined to make it work - my frustration and annoyance finally reached its peak.

"Fuck you too magic. If you don't want to work then fine," I said through gritted teeth, full of anger.

The moment I focused on my anger, I finally felt something within myself. It was a weird feeling, but it also felt powerful. That was why I barely noticed how the pen before me was shot at the nearest wall.

When I finally registered what happened, I sat dumbfounded, staring at the pen that laid on the floor. All of the anger and frustration already disappeared and I was only left with confusion.

How the hell did I achieve that?

I searched through my memories of both canon and fanon before the realization hit me in the face. I felt rather stupid for not realizing it earlier.

It was all about emotions. After all, it was said that accidental magic was always caused when a child was feeling particularly strong emotions. My own anger and frustration finally managed to activate it and move the pen. This little discovery at least proved some things to me. Unfortunately, I didn't know how well I would be able to achieve this feat again.

Yes, now I knew that there was magic inside me, be it a core or something entirely different. I was expecting that as this at least explained the differences between wizards and the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj.

Wizards obviously could use the magic inside them to accomplish all of the feats that I read about in books. I was also sure that there was ambient magic everywhere that could be used somehow, but I had too little knowledge about this subject to even speculate.

Next were the sorcerers. From what I remember they used the energies of the world and other dimensions. They could use their own energy, but it would mean using their own life force and it could run dry after some time, resulting in death. Still, they could manipulate very powerful energies and almost everyone could become a sorcerer.

This was something I was definitely planning to learn later. Having both my personal magic and the energies of the universe in my arsenal would grant me a vaster ability range.

Yeah, something that I definitely needed to learn. Even then I was quite curious if those two types of mages interacted with each other in any way. And what they thought about their respective types of magic.

I shook my head to clear my mind of those thoughts, it wasn't important now. I should be focusing on recreating my previous feat of magic, but this time with a little more control.

By the time the dinner came, I was still unsuccessful and even though I tried to use the frustration I felt after hours of failure, I still couldn't move the damn pen. It was like the magic in me went to sleep and would only wake up when I was in distress.

With a sigh, I stood up and went to the cafeteria for diner. I could continue after that and maybe I would switch to the only occlumency exercise I know. After all, I still needed to deal with my jumbled memories.

* * *

Time quickly went by and before I even noticed the school semester had ended.

It was weird going to a class that you already completed. Thankfully I managed mostly to act like the kid would act before I had taken over the body. Apart from some people asking me if I was fine with always being alone, I was quite happy with my current situation. No one really bothered me and I was free to do my research and experiments.

Of course, most of my time at the school was spent in the library surfing through the web in search of information or looking through the history books to find any important differences.

The first thing I searched through was the history of World War 2. Unsurprisingly there I found mentions of the First Avenger, Capitan America. If I didn't believe that I was in both Marvel and HP universe before, then I certainly believed now.

I didn't find any mentions of Hydra or Shield, but it was expected as mentions of the first organization were probably hidden and the second one wasn't officially created until the '50s. I didn't really want to search for Shield on the web as I was pretty sure that they would know if some random kid would start searching for a secret organization. For now, I didn't want to bring any attention to myself.

I also tried to find out if this universe also had mutants mixed into it, but I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't. From my observations, it was most likely only the MCU and HP universes stitched together. Of course, I found some mentions about people that Shield in the show called 'enhanced', but most of those events were swept under the rug. If one didn't know what they were looking at, they would just assume that nothing out of ordinary happened there.

I wondered how many of those 'enhanced' were created by science and who were the part of the inhuman race. Those people were pretty dangerous if they couldn't control their abilities and I wanted to stay the hell away from them and the Terrigen Crystals. I didn't want to turn to stone.

Again I only looked through public news to find this information, so it was very limited.

Of course, there was one person that I could investigate without any fear. Tony Stark.

He looked the same as in the movies and had the same reputation. For now, he was the well-known weapon producer and that wouldn't change for another few years. If I remembered correctly then he would become Iron Man somewhere in 2009, but I wasn't too sure. I only knew the dates of the most important events and I watched Iron Man a long time ago.

I didn't really care about my lack of knowledge when Tony Stark became Iron Man, as it wasn't important to me. The only phase one events I cared about were the Hulk, Thor's arrival on earth, and Avengers when Tesseract was for the first time out in the open.

Oh yes, I had a few plans for this little cube, but for now, it wasn't important as first, I needed to find out if any of these plans were possible. Who knew, magic was a powerful force, but Tesseract was an infinity stone after all.

Speaking of magic, I did some experiments with it, but the outcomes weren't that good. While occlumency, if I could call it that, was going pretty well. I could clear my mind and even get rid of the memories that were running through my mind for some time. They still came back, but at least now I could think in peace for a few hours. I really needed more information about the subject or I would go insane. I tried controlling those memories, but evidently I was doing it wrong as they always came back with a headache.

The more active part of the magic was going very slowly. After all this time I only managed to bring out the magic from my body - or core, whatever it was -, with this I could get a bit more familiar with it and even use it to lift very small objects if I focused very hard. A very small act of wandless magic, but it was a start. I knew for sure that there were regions in the world that didn't use wands and could perform magic without any problems. I was determined to do the same.

A wand would be useful later on, but a young wizard couldn't perform magic with it until their 17th birthday. I definitely wasn't waiting that long, I had many goals to accomplish.

Thankfully I also discovered two other things during those two weeks. The first one was an in-born ability, that I hoped to have.

Parseltongue.

It took me a few days to find a snake so I could test the ability, but one day I managed to spot a single small snake in the park. I didn't even need to try to speak the language myself as the snake started talking to me as I approached it. It was quite funny to see its surprise when it found out that I could speak their tongue.

I was really glad to have inherited this ability from Voldemort. Apart from giving me allies in snakes, I also would be able to enter the Chamber of Secrets. I wanted to see for myself what was in there.

Next was my ability to perform small acts of legilimency. I could only do it after I managed to get some control of my magic and if I kept eye contact with my target. Obviously my ability was very weak and probably performed completely wrong, but I could do it.

It gave me the ability to see some of the surface thoughts of a mundane person - I was not calling them muggles -, but after I left their mind, my targets were left confused and slightly disoriented. That definitely shouldn't happen and any magical would know that I was in their mind.

Still, this ability gave me an easier time in my recent activities.

I needed money, that was obvious if I wanted to buy anything in the wizarding world. I wouldn't dare to steal anything that could be enchanted against thieves before I could remove those protections. I was a pretty good thief in my last life and the ability came here with me, but against magic, it wouldn't help.

That was why I began 'gathering' my own mundane money after I got more familiar with this body. The art of pickpocketing required finesse and agility so I couldn't do it if I wasn't comfortable in my own body.

I only began doing it after the first week of my arrival in this world. At first, it was pretty hard and I almost got caught a few times, but with practice, everything got easier. Then with the legilimency probe available to me, I could easily confuse a person and they would never know what hit them.

I was hoping that the exchange rate wasn't that bad and I would be able to at least by some of the things I require. I still wasn't sure how orphans were meant to pay for their Hogwarts equipment - probably some sort of fund created for those people -, but I wanted to have some money for myself.

Currently, I was sitting on one of the benches in the more crowded parts of the area near the Children's Home. I always changed my venuses after a few thefts as to avoid any suspicion.

First I observed the crowd for any good targets. I mostly preferred when they had the look of a bit richer person than average as I didn't like to rob the richest as they never had too much money on themselves. I didn't really have any use of a credit card as I couldn't find the password in their minds. Even then it was common that I would find almost nothing in on the person I tired to rob. Waste of time, but I at least got some practice.

Thankfully with the use of legilimency, I could confuse them enough so my targets wouldn't remember me. At least I hoped so. It would be quite awkward if an experienced thief would need to run because someone saw me performing one of the simplest acts of theft. I would be a laughing stock if it was my old world.

_And what do we got here,_ I thought as I spotted a middle-aged woman in a business dress. It was time to get to work.

* * *

Far away in the Highlands of Scotland, stood the large castle of Hogwarts. The name maybe wasn't that spectacular, but it was still one of the best wizarding schools in the entire world. It was there that most of the British wizards received their education and went into the world as fine additions to the community.

One of those people was Albus Dumbledore, the current Headmaster of Hogwarts and one of the most known wizards in the world. Even in his old age, the Headmaster was a figure that most respected, while others feared his power.

Currently, Dumbledore was stationed in his office. The school year just finished and it gave the old Headmaster time to finally deal with all of the documents that stacked up during the year. Being not only a headmaster but also a Chief Warlock and Supreme Mugwump, made the man very busy. He often wondered if he should just give away one of his positions, but then he remembered that his positions could still be useful if his suspicions about Voldemort were true.

Apart from the Voldemort problem, he also needed those positions to help the wizarding world with adapting to those new times.

Muggle world was progressing very fast and if it wasn't for some outside help, Albus feard that the Statue of Secrecy would have fallen a few years ago. He along with the ICW already made some adjustments that all of the wizarding communities needed to follow, but he was still not sure for how long they would help. Especially with the threat of Voldemort rising again.

The muggle organization that helped them, warned the wizarding world that next time they would not ignore a terrorist running around killing people. Of course, that statement wasn't met too friendly. The wizarding world was very independent and they didn't like how some muggles wanted to step in. It was good that it wasn't common knowledge or all of the Purebloods would throw a fit. Dumbledore really didn't have the patience to deal with something like this.

Still, the change was good and the Wizarding world was blooming. People were more accepting of new things and the most hardcore Purebloods didn't really protest as long as it made their life better and didn't destroy any traditions.

As Albus was just finishing his work, he felt the wards around the door to his office notified him that someone was coming.

"You can enter Minerva," Dumbledore called out.

Minerva McGonagall was a Scottish witch, the professor of Transfiguration, and the current Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. She was a tall, older woman with black hair and an almost permanent stern expression on her face. For Albus, she was one of his most trusted friends and in the current times, those were few in numbers.

"What brings you here? I thought that you would be preparing to leave to visit your family," Dumbledore said with a small smile.

Minerva nodded, "I will be doing that later. We both know that before that I needed to deal with the acceptance letters for this month."

Dumbledore gave a nod of his own. Minerva was the one who dealt with sending the letters to new students or delivering them herself if it was a child of Muggle descend. A very tiring job, but the woman always liked to introduce new students to the wizarding world.

"Please sit down, it can't be comfortable standing there. Now tell me what is the reason for your visit. You rarely stop your work before it was finished."

Minerva sighed as she sat down, "I am not sure Albus. I might be imagining things, but I wanted you to take a look at this," with that she gave him a single letter.

Dumbledore took the letter and when he saw the name on it his eyes widened.

_Logan Riddle(Hunt)_

It shouldn't be possible. Dumbledore was sure that Voldemort would never sire a child, he had no need for such things. Maybe it was one big coincidence and the child was just unlucky to have Tom's last name. There must be more than one Riddle family in Britain so it was possible, but the second last name made Albus curious.

He already encountered such a problem a few times and it took some research to find out what it meant. The Riddle part was the name of the child's parent that magic recognized as such, while the Hunt part was a name that the child was given after that. Most likely the boy was abandoned after birth and while someone must have given him both names, magic still recognized him as someone else.

Finally, Dumbledore stopped his train of thoughts and addressed Minerva, "This is indeed troubling. We both know what the style of addressing means, but I will never know who his parents are if I don't meet him."

McGonagall looked grimly at the letter, "You think that the child can be related to _him_?"

Dumbledore stroked his long beard, "While I doubt it, in the world of magic everything is possible. While I won't judge a child for his ancestry, as after seeing the address we both know that he probably doesn't even know about the wizarding world, I still need to know who he really is."

Minerva nodded a bit calmed down, "So you will take the latter to him?"

"That will be the best plan of action," Albus replied, "If he has any connection to Tom, I will know."

After that Minerva stood up and stopped by the door, "I hope that you know what you are doing Albus. I wish you a good day," with that she walked out, leaving the old Headmaster to his thoughts.

_It is a problem after the problem, maybe I really should drop one of my titles..._ he thought after a bit of silence. After all, even the great Albus Dumbledore had limits and maybe just maybe he was finally reaching them.


	3. Where it all began

A few weeks again went by and my supposed birthday passed without notice. As the last week of July was ending I was beginning to wonder when would my Hogwarts letter come.

To be honest I wasn't even sure how I would get it. Normally every muggle-born should be introduced to the wizarding world by a professor personally. They would come and give you the crash course and maybe even take you to the Diagon Alley.

The question was how would it work with an orphan whose parents were magical. After all, Harry didn't know about magic, but no one came until the deadline. Would they treat me the same or would a professor come by?

Who knew.

Thankfully I knew enough of the wizarding world so if my letter was delivered by an owl, I would be able to get to Diagon Alley alone. The only problem would be explaining to my caretakers that I needed to go alone to the center of London. I definitely wouldn't be able to tell them about magic and my legilimency was still too weak to accomplish a subtle manipulation.

It would definitely be better if a professor came. Much less trouble and I would be able to ask some questions that I needed answers to. While I could search through books for them, it would be much faster to ask.

If they didn't come during the next week, then I would be going myself. I wanted to finally find out more about the current state of the wizarding world and sitting here wouldn't help me with that. Besides I was getting slightly bored...

I was happy with the ability to do magic, but on my own, I could only do so much. My control got even better and now I could summon and push things with barely any difficulty, but any harder task was still beyond me. I even tried to summon some elements, but I was mostly unsuccessful. The best I managed was a spark of light that I later used to make my wandless version of 'Lumos' spell. Useful little thing when I needed some quick light.

My occlumency progressed to the point that, now I could view some of the jumbled memories, but it gave me a headache later on, so again I was pretty sure that I was doing something wrong. I didn't know if I would be able to feel a legilimency probe, but I couldn't really test it. So while I progressed, I wasn't too sure how useful this improvement would be. At least my recall of information got a bit better...

I tried to figure out how to make my legilimency probes work more successfully, but I only managed to cause more pain to my test subjects. It wasn't anything dangerous, so I didn't feel any guilt from doing it. I was not sure I would even feel any even if it caused stronger pain. After all, you didn't survive in the underworld without your moral compass being at least a bit twisted.

Not that I was some mass-murdering maniac -at least in my humble opinion-, but I had done things in my past life that many would see as evil. I guess I should be at least a bit thankful that my life didn't make me a naive idiot that couldn't appreciate the things he had.

And I again went on some sappy reminiscing journey. Man, I really needed to stop doing that. I had a new life now, it opened so many possibilities for me, I shouldn't waste time thinking about something that I left behind...

Lately, I needed to tone down my thefts a bit as more than one time I spotted a police officer in one of my hot spots. It was bound to happen sooner or later, but I hoped that I could gather a bit more money before that. I only managed to get six hundred pounds and while it probably would be enough for now, it mostly depended on the exchange rate.

If it was anything higher than ten pounds to one galleon, then I might have a problem. After all how much additional stuff could you buy with no more than sixty galleons?

I didn't remember how much things cost in the cannon expect the wand, so I could either have too much money or I wouldn't even buy anything useful.

Oh well, it was time for my daily run. This body might be young, but I like to be in the peak of physical condition. After all better stamina was useful in many things, trust me I knew.

* * *

It was the final day of June that Albus Dumbledore, finally decided that he couldn't wait any longer with delivering the acceptance letter to young Logan. Albus spent many hours during this month thinking about what he should do.

The headmaster knew that he made many mistakes with Tom Riddle when he was young, and Albus at least partially was responsible for the rise of the next Dark Lord. With the war against Grindelwald, his former best friend, raging through Europe, Dumbledore at the time made many bad decisions.

He made up his opinion of Tom upon their first meeting and he never tried to change it. The orphaned boy definitely wasn't good when Albus met him, but he definitely wasn't completely evil. After all, he was a young boy who lived during both muggle and wizarding war.

Dumbledore could attempt to help the boy during his first years at school or at least forward his request to the previous Headmaster. Yes, Albus definitely made some mistakes, he was only a human, powerful and old one, but still a human.

He promised himself that he wouldn't make the same mistakes this time. The living standards for orphans improved drastically in the last decades, so Albus hoped that the child at least had a good life. Even then, deep inside Dumbledore was praying that the child had no relations to Voldemort.

Sighing Albus steeled himself and slowly walked towards the entrance of the Children's Home. He already transfigurated his usual eccentric robes into something that would make him blend into the muggle environment. Some magical might have abandoned the usual robes, but Dumbledore was just too used to them. Besides, it amused him to see people's reactions to his choice of clothing.

The building looked quite nice and Albus' hopes raised a bit. At least it was much better than Wool's Orphanage that Tom lived in.

As Dumbledore walked inside, he quickly spotted an older person -probably part of the staff here- and made his way to her.

"Good morning," Albus said politely, "I would like to speak with he current manager of this Home."

The woman turned around to look at Dumbledore and immediately raised an eyebrow at his usual appearance. Even without his robes, Albus was an interesting looking fellow, "Good morning," she finally answered, "Please follow me Mr.?"

"Dumbledore, Albus Dumbledore," he introduced himself with a dip of his head.

"Right, Mr. Dumbledore follow me the manager should be able to see you now... If you don't mind me asking, what is the point of your visit?" she asked as they walked through the hallways.

"Not really," Albus answered with a small smile, "I am here to invite one of your occupants to my school. And before you ask, I, unfortunately, can't tell you what school it is. We are a very private organization miss."

The woman nodded and didn't speak any further. Albus was thankful as he really didn't like to explain everything to muggles. In the worst-case, he was allowed to use oblivation or weak confundus charm to help in avoiding questions, but it was only the last resort when muggles wouldn't cooperate. Thankfully the muggle government provided wizards with some fake documents about their schools, so the explanation process would be easier.

Finally, they arrived at the door that led to the manager's office, the woman quickly went inside to inform the person of Albus' arrival, and a moment later the headmaster was invited inside.

The inside of the room was quite modest. White walls, a single shelf for some files, and a working desk, that had one of those computers on it that Dumbledore heard about. Finally, there was the manager.

He was an older man with graying hair, maybe in his fifties. He had the usual stern expression that Albus got used to around Minerva and that little thought amused the headmaster a bit.

"Good morning. My name is Albus Dumbledore and I am the headmaster of a private school in Scotland," Albus again introduced himself.

The manager nodded, "Max Owens, it is a pleasure to meet you. Please sit down," the man gestured to the empty seat.

Albus accepted the offer and got himself comfortable, "As I mentioned, I am the headmaster of a school and I would like to offer one of yours wards a place there."

Owens raised an eyebrow ina visible surprise, "While I am sure that all of the children here are special in their own right, I don't think that we have anyone here that would catch the interest of a private school."

Albus shook his head, "It works a bit differently with my school. The student I am talking about was on our list after he was put there by his parents," a complete lie, but he couldn't tell the man that they had an enchanted book that had the list of every magical child that could attend Hogwarts.

The man nodded slowly, but he evidently didn't believe everything, "Just to be sure, could I get some documents that would prove your story?"

Dumbledore was of course prepared for such a reaction so he took out a small folder of files from the small bag he was carrying, "This should be enough I hope."

Owens read through the files before nodding, "I am sorry for doubting you Mr. Dumbledore, but I want to make sure that my pupils will be safe."

Dumbledore waved him off, "It's not a problem. I would do the same, after all, we need to look out for the next generations. That being said I was hoping that you could tell me a bit of my future student before I meet him."

"And who would the lucky student be?" Owens asked curiously.

"Mr. Logan Hunt."

The manager leaned back in his chair, "Young Logan eh? He is a good boy. Quite reserved and quiet, but we never had any problems with him. Even though he mostly keeps to himself, my staff tells me that he doesn't have problems with socializing. It is interesting to hear that his parents would provide him with education after abandoning him here without even a name."

Dumbledore sighed tiredly, of course, they would do that. Albus quickly used a weak confundus charm and gave the man some very unbelievable explanations. There was no way that he could explain how he found an unnamed child without some help.

Finally, their conversation came to an end and the manager led Albus to Logan's room. The old headmaster couldn't deny that he was a bit nervous. After all, he would finally find out if Voldemort sired a child.

The manager again went in first to inform the child of Albus' arrival and only then Dumbledore could go in to meet the boy alone.

The moment he went inside and took a look at the boy, Albus could honestly admit that his calm facade fell for a second. It was not every day that he met someone who had so many similarities to the last Dark Lord.

The boy definitely possessed most of Tom's features when he was young. The only visible differences that Albus could spot were the very short hair, some more delicate features that probably came from the boy's mother, and finally the eyes. They were the combination of Voldemort's red gaze and whatever color his mother had.

At least Dumbledore could claim with some relief that the boy's vermilion eyes didn't hold any madness that Voldemort possessed. He really wanted to at least make a surface scan of the boy's thoughts, but he stopped himself. Before the boy did something that could warrant such an action, Dumbledore would hold himself back. Besides the boy, quickly averted his eyes, so there was no way for any passive probe.

Oh well, it was time to introduce himself.

* * *

"Good morning young man, I am Professor Albus Dumbeldore and I would like to invite you to my school," said the polite voice of Albus Fucking Dumbledore.

What the fuck was going on? Why would the headmaster of Hogwarts come to meet me? Wasn't it McGonagall's job to meet the new students who were raised outside the wizarding world? Did they know who I really was?

Still, his reaction when he saw me was priceless. It was very short, but the look on his face... Now he definitely knew who I was, thankfully he didn't know that I also knew. I just needed to cement this opinion. Besides, I finally knew that the cannon was moved forward... or something changed and Dumbledore survived.

"Mister Logan Hunt yes?" he asked and I quickly nodded in affirmation, "Before we begin this is for you."

I took the letter from him and after reading the address I instantly knew why it was Dumbledore who came here.

_Logan Riddle(Hunt)_

_Fuck you, magical quill! Of course, it would know who I am,_ I groaned in my head. Defeated by an old artifact. Oh well, if I played it right, then I could clear myself with Dumbledore.

To keep the appearances I asked before opening, "Riddle? But I was always a Hunt, at least the caretakers told me that."

Dumbledore scratched his beard, "I will explain in a moment, for now, please open it."

I nodded and did as I was told.

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,  
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

_Dear Mr. Hunt,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._ _The term begins on 1 September.  
_

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

The first page was almost the same as in cannon only without the reply part. Understandably, as after all a professor was here and he could hear my response personally. I was happy that they decided to address me with my new last name and not Voldemort's. Fewer problems for me.

The second page had the list with all the needed equipment, but I instantly noticed that some of the things were changed. Some of the books were the same while others were completely unknown to me. Apart from that I only needed some ceremonial robes instead of the full set. There was an add notation that they were used during every important event in the school, including the beginning of the year.

I really hoped that it was a sign that the wizarding clothing style got at least a bit modernized. Well, Dumbledore was garbed in normal clothes, but that could be because he needed to walk among mundanes to visit me.

The rest of the list was almost the same so I finally put away the letter and looked back at Dumbledore with a confused expression, "School of Witchcraft and Wizardy? Are you sure you are a professor mister?"

The old man chuckled in amusement, "I assure you young man that everything you just read is true. Tell me, did you ever experienced something unusual happening around you? Especially when you were feeling strong emotions."

I pretended to think about it before giving an uncertain answer, "I think that a few times I made things float around me when I was frustrated. I never told anyone as I wasn't sure what it was."

Dumbledore nodded with a smile, if I was, to be honest, I thought that he would be a bit more hostile towards me. I definitely read too much evil Dumbledore fanfictions.

"Those random events are called accidental magic. Almost every magical child performs them from time to time or when they are in distress. It is completely normal."

"So this school," I said trying to sound skeptical, "Would teach me how to control that?"

"This and more," Dumbledore explained, "Hogwarts is one of the most prestigious school of magic in the entire world. There are many magical arts out there and we teach most of them."

_Well, that was a lie if I ever heard one. Hogwarts teaches some of the subjects, but if I was to believe both cannon and some of the fanon then Hogwarts barely taught the basics._

This was something I would need to find out on my own when I finally got to Diagon Alley -hopefully, today-, I couldn't believe in everything I knew from my past life. After all, this universe was much different so everything was possible.

As I decided that it was time to slowly finish this conversation, I put the most innocent smile on my face and asked, "Could you show me some magic before I decide?"

Dumbledore gave me a large smile in return, "Of course," with that the old wizard took out his wand -the fabled Elder Wand, one of the Hallows, something I definitely wanted to get my hands on later- and transfigured one of my books into a small bird.

Even though I could do some magic, it was still a bit exciting to see someone perform it before me.

"So what do I need to do to go to Hogwarts?" I asked after Dumbledore completed his show.

"If you are sure of your decision, we will go to one of the wizarding shopping districts to get your supplies. As you are an orphan, I will need to accompany you on your first trip there," Dumbledore said after he hid his wand.

It was really interesting that it was the first time he mentioned my orphan status. He also didn't explain to me the Riddle part of my name, but I was happy with leaving this subject alone. The fewer questions I asked about my family the less suspicion would be on me. Yeah, I was a kid who probably should want to know about his birth family, but as my father was a Dark Lord, it was just safer to drop it.

"We will go now?" I suddenly asked.

Dumbledore nodded, "I just need to inform your guardians, please prepare when I am gone."

With that, the wizard walked out of the room leaving me alone. Well, this certainly went better than I thought. When I saw Dumbledore entering my room I thought that he would instantly throw me into Azkaban.

Stupid? Maybe, but could you blame me?

Now I would finally be going to the Diagon Alley. The place where it all would begin.


	4. Magic

Thankfully Dumbledore didn't come back after I finished thinking so I quickly used this moment to change into some better clothes. I didn't want to look like a complete idiot in the Diagon Alley. It was enough that I would probably be one of the few that didn't wear robes. Not that I planned to change it. Maybe a trench coat in the future, but robes?

Nope, I wasn't going to wear them if I didn't need to. I really needed to ask Dumbledore how wizards dressed in those times, but that could wait until we got to the Diagon Alley. After all, I need something to build my question on. It would be very suspicious if I asked about robes without even seeing one apart from the Hogwarts letter.

After I changed, I sat on my bed and waited for Dumbledore to come back. He really was taking his sweet time with the Children's Home staff. Not that I thought of it, I was curious what exactly did he tell them about the school. This little bit of information was never presented in canon so I was really interested in how the process looked like.

Oh well, I could ask Dumbledore later. I doubt that he would hide something so unimportant from me.

Finally, the elder wizard came back, "Are you ready Mr. Hunt? I informed your guardians and they agreed to everything."

I nodded and hopped out of the bed, "Yes professor. So where are we exactly going?" A question that I needed to ask, both to strengthen my act and to confirm my own knowledge about the wizarding world. After all, something could have changed, and maybe now there was another more important shopping district in London.

"One of the British wizarding shopping districts called Diagon Alley. It is a lovely place and I am sure that it will leave a good impression on you. Now come, we have a lot to do," Dumbledore answered before leading me out of the room.

I could understand why he wanted to finish it all quickly. The man was holding so many important titles that missing a few hours to go shopping with a student wasn't probably too helpful for all his work. Besides I was still Voldemort's son so Dumbledore might not like my presence.

Just as I wanted to ask another question, Dumbledore beat me and began talking first, "Now that we are out, I should probably inform you of the method of transportation that we will be taking. Normally I would prefer to just apparate - which is a magical skill to simply teleport -, but that could have come negative effects as you were never exposed to a larger amount of magic," here he stopped for a second and took out a small pendant from his pocket, "Instead we will be using this."

Well, at least now I knew that Dumbledore was definitely a teacher. I had got to admit that listening to him explain something I already knew was quite nice. It was good to know that Apparation could have some negative effects on me.

Still, he probably expected me to ask him what the hell was he holding, "Professor, how exactly a small pedant is going to help us?"

Dumbledore smiled at me - it was still weird how friendly he was with me - and instantly answered, "This Mr. Hunt is a portkey. An enchanted object that allows a group of people to travel between large distances. Unlike Apparation, portkeys were created so they would be safe for anyone, even Muggles."

I quickly raised an eyebrow at the last word, after all, I wasn't supposed to know anything, "Oh yes I forgot, Muggle is a term that the wizarding world use on people that can't use magic," Dumbledore quickly elaborated seeing my expression.

I nodded with a small smile, before pointing at the pedant, "So how does it exactly work Professor?"

"It is very easy to use. In the future, you might learn how to create them yourself. But that is not now or here. Most of the portkeys are activated with an activation phrase, but others can be enchanted to work at a previously fixed time," when we finally arrived at a place that was almost empty of people, Dumbledore took his wand and waved it around a few times.

I didn't ask him what he had done as I suspected that he erected some wards so we would be able to use the portkey without anyone seeing us. I just acted like I was curious about the few sparks that left Dumbledore's wand and the small dome of magic that quickly disappeared a moment after.

"Now that we are safe from anyone seeing us just disappear please take a hold of the pedant," I did as was told and grabbed the small chain, "Now I need to warn you that even though the trip won't be dangerous, it might still be uncomfortable. If you fell ill after we arrive, you will inform me instantly. Do you understand Mr. Hunt?"

I quickly nodded a bit surprised from the more stern side of Dumbledore. So he had a backbone, that was good. For now, Dumbledore seemed like a nice guy, but it was too fast to form an opinion.

"Hold tight," he warned, "To Diagon Alley."

As he uttered the phrase, the world around me swirled and I could only see Dumbledore and the small pedant without problems. The rest of the world was a blur and I instantly realized that portkey wasn't going to be my favorite method of transportation.

It took a moment before the world around me came back and this time I was in some sort of small alley that was completely abandoned. Thankfully I didn't fall to the ground from the nausea I felt, so that was a success.

As I finally regained my bearing, I felt a hand touch my shoulder, "Mr. Hunt are you fine?"

I nodded slowly, "Mostly, I only feel a bit nauseous."

The older wizard took his hand away and breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good. Most people react much worse on their first try. I will give you a minute or two for the feeling to go away before we resume our task."

I gave the man a quiet thanks and used to the wall to steady myself completely. It seemed like all the people in fanfictions were right about magical travel. I really hoped that it would get better with time or I would need to find a better method...

"I am fine now Professor, we can go," I said after a minute or two. I really was feeling better, but it would probably take an hour or so before it would completely go away.

"I am glad. Now please follow me, I will show you the entrance to the Diagon Alley, the shopping district, so in the future, you will be able to come here yourself. The address of the Alley is in the acceptance letter so you shouldn't have problems with finding it. Also when we go inside please stay close to me, the Alley is quite crowded during those hours and you might get lost," Dumbledore explained as he led me across the street to the famous Leaky Cauldron.

Like in the cannon the pub was mostly dark and shabby. It had a bar and a number of tables in the corners. Still, it looked a lot cleaner than in the movies or what the descriptions in books pointed to. I really hoped that modern times affected the magical world a bit more than this.

Thankfully the people inside confirmed my suspicion about robes. Almost no one wore them, but their clothing styles were still a bit outdated. Plus I suspected that some of them were made with magical products. Something to investigate later on.

A bunch of people greeted Dumbledore so I remained on the side, quietly watching everything. I didn't need people to know that the most famous wizard was giving me a tour of the Alley. That kind of attention definitely wasn't something I wanted so early on.

It took a few minutes for Albus to free himself from the crowd and after that, he led me to the backroom where the entrance to Diagon Alley was stationed. This time the place looked exactly the same as in canon. Finally, Dumbledore showed me the correct sequence to open the bricks.

As the bricks disappeared, I was finally greeted with the sight of Diagon Alley.

It definitely was a beautiful place, everything in the Alley was mostly made out of cobblestone and wood, but I already could see a few places that looked more modernized. That was good to see, it at least showed that the wizarding world was somehow adapting so they wouldn't be discovered by the ever-advancing mundane. Even then the Alley had the same magical feeling that its previous versions probably had.

Like in the Leaky Cauldron, people on the Alley mostly wore normal clothing, but I could spot a few people that took my idea with trench coats or cloaks. It definitely looked better than robes.

_Man, I am really hating hard on those robes eh?_

I chuckled quietly at the thought and was thankful that Dumbledore didn't notice it as he began talking, "Wonderful sight hmm? It never fails to make me happy when I see the different generations of wizards and witches walk around here," the wizard finally realized that he drifted away so he addressed me again, "As you are new to the wizarding world, it might surprise you that the Alley is a mix of both modern muggle world and what you would probably call medieval style."

I nodded instantly as I was really curious about what inspired the change. How the hell purebloods accepted this?

"The wizarding world is very old and our traditions are very important to us. Most of those traditions dictated our lifestyles for a long time and we never saw the reason to change them. Unfortunately due to some events that happened in the last decades and the advancement of the Muggle world, even we needed to change. Trust me, my boy, that if you came to the alley ten or fifteen years ago, it would look a lot different. I won't bore you with more details as I am sure you will learn about them in Hogwarts," Dumbledore finally finished his explanation and mentioned me to follow.

That was very interesting. I would have never expected a different timeframe to affect the wizarding world so much. It still didn't answer my question on purebloods' opinion, but I couldn't exactly ask Dumbledore about it. Still, if the changes were that visible then they probably agreed with some of them.

That was a subject that I definitely would need to investigate later. For now, I need to focus on the trip and find out where exactly in the timeline I was.

"Professor where are we going now?" I asked in pure curiosity. I really had no clue

Dumbledore glanced at me with a smile before looking back ahead of him, "Our first stop is the Gringotts Bank. One of the few wizarding banks, this particular one is controlled by goblins. I ask you to be polite when we go in, while they are not the most pleasant being to be around, they are a powerful magical race."

I nodded in acceptance. My questions could wait a moment, plus I was curious what exactly Dumbledore would be getting from Gringotts.

Finally, we arrived at the snow-white, multistoried marble building. Neither the movies nor the descriptions from the books showed the elegance of the building. It was really something else to see it for myself and my awe definitely showed on my face as I heard Dumbledore chuckle beside me.

"Quite the sight. Goblins definitely know how to make first impressions. Now let's go Mr. Hunt, there is no time to waste," the elder wizard said to finally move me forward.

When we arrived at the entrance I finally saw the goblins for the first time. This time the movies got them quite right and I still thought that they were ugly.

I ignored the goblins completely - I had no clue how to act around them and I wasn't trying anything from fanfictions - and we entered the entrance hall. There I finally saw the doors with the famous warning slash challenge.

_Enter, stranger, but take heed  
Of what awaits the sin of greed  
For those who take, but do not earn,  
Must pay most dearly in their turn.  
So if you seek beneath our floors  
A treasure that was never yours,  
Thief, you have been warned, beware  
Of finding more than treasure there._

_Creepy little bastards,_ I thought with a quiet snort that thankfully went unnoticed.

After we finally passed the large doors we emerged in a vast marble hall with a large number of counters that were manned by goblins. Dumbledore quickly approached one of them, "Excuse me, teller, I need to withdraw one standard Hogwarts stipend."

The goblin looked at and answered in a bored tone, "Key?" Dumbledore quickly gave the mentioned object to the teller, "Please wait for a moment while we collect the needed items."

Dumbledore nodded and led me to the side so we could wait without bothering the goblin. It also gave me a moment to ask him about the stipend, "Professor, what is the Hogwarts stipend?"

"It is a small Hogwarts fund that was created for the orphans so they would be able to get the needed supplies. They are not exactly cheap and we can't expect an eleven-year-old child to pay for them. The amount should be enough to last for your whole education and every year you can get additional bonuses if your marks are good," Dumbledore explained quietly.

That was definitely nice, it meant that I would be able to spend the money I gathered on some additional things. Plus I could get a nice bonus if my grades were good, not that I was planning to slack with my magical education.

It took us another few minutes before we finally left Gringotts with a small sack that carried my money. Dumbledore explained that it held fifty galleons, which in my mind wasn't that much, but maybe the fanon just messed my knowledge a bit. Unfortunately, I still didn't know the exchange rate, but I could find out later when I was alone.

After that, the shopping went much quicker. First, we got me a trunk that was a bit bigger on the inside and had a featherlight enchantment on it. It wasn't cheap, but it was something I needed to be at least a bit comfortable.

Next, we got the needed ingredients and equipment for potions - I already dreaded them if Snape was still teaching -, telescope that was definitely modern from what I saw, and a few other things that Dumbledore explained I would need.

Finally, we went to Madam Malkin's Robes, where I got the required clothes and two robes just in case. I didn't want to spent too much money there as apart from the few required Hogwarts outfits there wasn't any magical clothing I wanted for now. Besides, I would prefer to buy mundane clothing.

Dumbledore agreed with me and after I was done with clothes we finally arrived at the bookstore. There Dumbledore went to gather my required books while I was left to browse.

I quickly looked through every shelve in hope of finding the answers I needed. There I found the famous book called 'The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts' and skimmed through the book's contents.

It took me a moment, but I finally found the section on Harry Potter and Voldemort.

According to the book, my 'father' was defeated on Halloween night in 1996. And that meant that Harry was born in the same year as me... Well, not that I didn't expect this. After all whoever put me in this world probably wanted me to take part in the important events of both worlds.

It would have been better for me if I was a year or two older than Harry, but I could still accomplish everything I wanted in my current situation. It would probably be a bit harder, but I never liked it when everything was too easy. Adrenaline junkie and all that.

As I finally had the current time frame I quickly put the book away and began to browse through another section without even touching anything. I would come back here in the next month so I could browse without anyone breathing down on my neck. No reason to make Dumbledore even more suspicious.

Before I knew it Dumbledore found me with the needed books and we departed from the store. With all my things safely hidden in my trunk, we went to our last destination.

The wand shop, Ollivander's.

This one particular shop didn't look any different from what I read in the books or saw in the movies. It was small, shabby, and covered in layers of dust. I should have probably expected this because why would Olivander change anything. After all, he was selling the most important tools for a wizard or witch.

"Welcome to my shop," a voice said just as an elderly man entered the shop from the backdoor, "Albus I definitely didn't expect you to visit me anytime soon. And who is this?"

Dumbledore cleared his throat before replying, "Minerva was too busy with her own duties so I decided to help her a bit. It has been a while since I introduced a student to the wizarding world. And so it happens that today I am helping young Logan Hunt here. I leave him in your capable hands."

_Like I am gonna believe that. If you never saw the name Riddle, you wouldn't be here._

Not that I could blame him, I would have done the same. Still, I thought that Dumbledore would go out after he finished his last sentence, but I obviously misunderstood him.

"Come here lad, let's see what I can find for you," after I walked a bit closer, Olivander took out a measuring tape and asked, "Which is your dominant hand?"

I could use both of my hands pretty well, but the right one would always be better. So after I raised my right hand, Olivander began the weirdest measuring I ever witnessed. If Dumbledore wasn't here, I would have probably cursed the man a few times.

Finally, he finished his measuring and quickly handed me a wand, "Acacia and Unicorn hair, ten inches. Give it a wave," I didn't feel anything from the wand, but I still did what he asked me for, "No, no, definitely not. Maple and Phoenix feather, nine inches," and so it went for another few minutes before Olivander handed me a wand that I really didn't want to hold.

"Holly and Phoenix feather, eleven inches," I felt some warmth form the wand and it released a few sparks, but Olviander quickly took the wand away and began to murmur something. I took the moment to take a glance at Dumbledore who probably knew all about this wand. Surprisingly his only reaction was a deep frown and I didn't know if I should be happy or sad.

Shrugging I turned back to Olivander who came back with another bunch of wands.

* * *

"Elder and dragon heartstring, twelve inches and a bit flexible," this time I finally felt a connection with the wand as I grasped it with my hand. I never felt something so powerful in my entire life. The power that filled my entire being and the magic surging from my new wand was spectacular. To bo honest, I expected many things after reading multiple fanfictions, but this?

It might sound cliche, but it was like finding a missing part of myself. I didn't know how to feel about this discovery, but for now, I could only accept it. At least I finally understood why finding a matching wand was so hard. The one hour wait was worth it.

Still, in awe of my new wand, I barely heard Olivander speak again, "Quite a unique wand you have there Mr. Hunt. The elder wood rarely chooses anyone and it has been a while since I sold one of those. Then we got your core, heartstring form a particularly vicious Hungarian Horntail, a very nasty breed of dragons. I hope that you and your wand will work together well in the future. After all, every wielder of Elder is marked with some kind of destiny," even though the last part was said very quietly, I managed to catch it and hoped that Dumbledore didn't.

Of course, the wand would reveal that I was at least a bit special... And I really didn't know how to feel about some kind of destiny. I had my own plans and the wood of my wand wouldn't decide my fate.

"Thank you, sir. How much do I owe you?" I decided that it would be best to get out of here before Ollivander would say anything that would make Dumbledore even more interested in me.

"Seven Galleons," the wandmaker answered swiftly.

I gave the man the required money and after the older wizards said their goodbyes we departed from the shop. From there Dumbledore again took out another portkey and a moment later we were back in the same place from which we departed this morning.

As we walked back to the Children's Home I finally asked my last question of the day, "Professor, did you tell my guardians that I was going to a school of magic?"

Dumbledore chuckled and shook his head, "No my boy. The wizarding government is prepared for events like this and with the help of muggle government we have serval ways to describe our schools to guardians that don't need to know about magic."

"So I don't need to explain anything?" I asked to make sure.

"No, I took care of everything," as we finally arrived at the Home, Dumbledore stopped and turned serious, "I already mentioned this, but I need you to remember that you are not allowed to use magic outside the school until you are seventeen. I know that you would probably love to practice some magic, but unfortunately, that is how our law works."

I nodded in understanding, this subject was something I really needed to investigate, "I will remember professor. Thank you for helping me today."

"It was a pleasure, Mr. Hunt. For now, I wish you a good summer and I will be waiting to see you again in Hogwarts," after that Dumbledore departed and I was finally left alone.

I took the wand out of my pocket and felt the warmth surging through my body.

_Oh yes, this summer is definitely gonna be interesting. After all, magic is still with me._


	5. Time to go

"How did it go, Albus?" his trusted deputy headmistress asked after Dumbledore finally came back from his visit, "Do you know if the boy is connected in any way to _him_?"

Albus sighed softly and sat down in his chair before turning towards the third person in the room, "Severus, it is good to have you back. I hope your visits to the States bore some fruit."

Severus Snape was a thin man with sallow skin, a large, hooked nose, and yellow, uneven teeth. He was one of the few that still used robes every day, but Albus thought that the man did it for the dramatics entrances he liked so much. The Potion professor was also another of the few people that Dumbledore knew he could trust, even with the questionable background that Severus possessed.

Dumbledore knew that with so many bad decisions that Snape made in the past he should probably be in Azkaban, but unlike many others, Severus at least attempted to change. And that was why he earned Dumbledore's trust.

The Potion Professor nodded, "It was enjoyable, Headmaster. I managed to gather most of the things I wanted and some time away from the castle was welcome... Minerva informed me of what has happened and I can't help be curious. I don't remember the Dark Lord telling anyone about a child. Not even his inner circle."

That was something Dumbledore expected. Tom might have needed his followers, but the man didn't trust anybody. So if he had a child it was perfectly understandable that no one would know about it.

"I did find out some troubling news, but they are not as bad as I feared," Dumbledore then opened the hidden compartment where his Pensieve was hidden and removed a small silvery strand from his head, "Take a look for yourself, his appearance alone prove it all."

Both Severus and Minerva quickly moved to the Pensieve and dived in. Dumbledore just waited outside, there was no reason to see it again, this memory was still fresh in his mind.

Finally, after a few minutes, the two Professors came back and while both were mostly calm Albus had enough experience in reading people to know that they were at least a bit shocked.

"The boy is his son," Minerva stated more for herself than the other people in the room. She then sat down and took a sip of the tea that was delivered by a house-elf, "I can see him in the boy, but I have no clue who his mother is."

"Lestrange," Severus said instantly, also taking a seat, "I spent enough time in her company to see the similarities. Besides she was probably the only one the Dark Lord would reproduce with. The woman was mad and probably the only person that _he_ was at least a bit fond of."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement, "I came to the same conclusion as you Severus. It would also explain why Bellatrix was less active in the last year of the war. The thing that bothers me the most is the fact that the boy was abandoned the day he was born without even a name. At least that's what the staff at the Children's Home told me."

Minerva frowned at the revelation, "Why would he get a child only to abandon it instantly. It just doesn't make sense, you-know-who always had a reason behind his actions. Severus are you sure that he didn't reveal anything back then? Maybe something that didn't make any sense?"

The Potion Professor shook his head, "Nothing comes to my mind currently. But I could have missed something, I would need to go through my memories of those times again. It might take me some time, but I might find something useful."

"Good idea," Albus agreed, "While I doubt that you will find anything specific, this is the only way for us to discover something. Especially with what my contacts reported in Albania. If Voldemort is ready to come back then we will need to prepare. I doubt that Mr. Potter will miraculously defeat him again."

The mention of Harry soured the atmosphere in the room and Severus was quick to change the subject, "What do you plan to do with his son, Headmaster?"

"For now?" Albus said, "Nothing. While I am sure that the boy is hiding something, I also know that he has no clue who he really is. We will treat him as a normal muggle-born, it would be a mistake to single him out. I made that mistake once and I have no plans to repeat it. He seems like a normal if a bit too mature boy and we will only react if he does something wrong."

Minerva looked pleased as Albus knew that she didn't like playing favorites or punishing somebody without a reason. The woman was strict but mostly fair. Severus was mostly indifferent, but Dumbledore learned a long time ago that the man was simply hiding what he really felt. Besides Albus knew of Snape's reputation among the students. The Headmaster might not like some parts of it, but he already tried to change the man's opinion on teaching.

"If that will be all, I will be going. I still have a few students that are in need of an introduction to the wizarding world," Minerva finally broke the silence and left the room.

"I will also take my leave Headmaster. If I begin my task now, then I might have an answer for us in the next week," the Potion professor said, slowly getting up from his seat.

"I wish you luck Severus," Dumbledore replied with a small smile, "Don't stress yourself over this, we still have time and I will be doing some research myself."

Snape nodded in thanks and also left the room.

Dumbledore slumped back in his chair. When he said that they had time, he wasn't too sure. If they didn't deal with Voldemort fast then another war would come and with it problems that Albus wasn't sure the wizarding world could face. After all the director of SHIELD was quite straightforward with what would happen if Voldemort ran amok again.

* * *

The past few days had been interesting to say at least. My first trip to Diagon Alley with Dumbledore revealed a lot of new information to me. I finally knew the precise timeline I was in and discovered that Harry Potter would be going to Hogwarts at the same time as I. Like I thought earlier, this wasn't exactly good. If I had a year or two to prepare before the shit hit the fan with Potter's appearance, then it would be much better.

Unfortunately, life was never fair and I would need to adapt. Thankfully with my knowledge and already expanding magical abilities, I should still be able to do everything I wanted. It would be harder and I might even fail, but it would be fun, right?

Besides I was already learning things from the textbooks even if I couldn't practice most of them. My wandless magic was still too weak to accomplish some of the harder tasks in the books, like transfiguration.

I was sure that with enough practice I would be able to do them without a wand as after all, I read somewhere in my last life that there were places in the world where people didn't use any kind of foci. I just couldn't remember if it was canon or fanon... I was quite sure that it was canon, but I could be wrong.

But like they say, "Where there's a will, there's a way". At least I hope it went like that.

I hoped that after trying some of the spells with a wand I would be able to repeat the process without one. Of course, I wouldn't throw my wand away so I could do everything wandlessly, but I didn't want to be too reliant on a tool that could be easily broken. Besides, I planned to learn about the magic of Kamar-Taj and they didn't really use any magical fucuses apart from some artifacts. Maybe my wandless practice would give me some headstart when I finally began.

Probably not, but one could dream.

I managed to cast a few simple jinxes and charms, but they were weak and probably wouldn't accomplish anything. Still, after only a week of practice, I was happy, even if my book collection was smaller than I wanted.

At first, I planned to return to Diagon Alley the next day and do some shopping on my own. I quickly dismissed the idea as I had enough material to last me for at least some time. Unfortunately, I quickly realized that it was... sorely lacking. Magical theory only had some of the most basic instructions and laws of magic that should be followed.

While it was all nice as I needed to know what I could and couldn't do, I wanted something that would explain things a bit more in-depth. Besides I needed to find some books on other subjects. Hopefully, I would be able to find them in Diagon as I didn't plan to go to Knockturn before I could defend myself properly.

That was why I was currently riding in the madness called Knight Bus. It was worse than portkey. I thought that I would vomit my insides at least ten times during the trip. It was no surprise then when we arrived at the Leaky cauldron I ran out of the Bus as fast as I could.

I was coming back with mundane transport, I had the time and I didn't know if my stomach would survive the trip back.

I quickly went to the backroom where the entrance was stationed and repeated the correct sequence with my wand. Thankfully I remembered it and was granted the entrance to Diagon Alley.

The Alley was as populated as when I was here with Dumbledore, maybe even more so, but I didn't have any problems with getting to Gringotts. I approached one of the free Tellers and asked, "Excuse me, what is the exchange rate from Pounds to Galleons?"

The goblin looked at me as I was the most annoying thing in the world and drawled out, "Twenty five Pounds to Galleon. Do you wish to make an exchange?"

I nodded and gave the goblin four hundred Pounds. I would keep the rest for myself, I still wanted to do some shopping for clothes in the mundane world. I wanted something better to wear before arriving at Hogwarts. I was used to at least some standards in my last life.

The goblin took the money and called another one of his race. They had a quick chat in their language and the second goblin walked away after a moment.

"You will need to wait a moment while we collect the needed amount," the goblin said before returning to the papers on his desk. I stared at him for a moment before shrugging. If he wanted to ignore me then so be it. I only wanted my money not their friendship.

A minute later the goblin returned with sixteen Galleons which I quickly hid with the rest of my money.

My task done, I left Gringotts and made my first stop at Flourish and Blotts where I again went to browse through the books but this time I took my time. After all, I was alone now and could do whatever I wanted.

I immediately went to get a few books about a more detailed history. I needed to know every little difference between this world and the original HP-verse and my textbook for the first year wasn't too useful. I liked history and it was the first time that I was bored when I was reading about it. Quite sad if you asked me.

I probably remained in the book store for another half an hour before finally paying for my new purchases.

The books I bought were mostly theoretical almost without any spells inside. I searched through some books on magical theory and only found one that had some information that I didn't know already. I would probably need to go to another store with more rare tomes if I wanted anything even more detailed.

Apart from that I also took a simple book on runes - while I didn't want to practice them yet, it would be good to know what they meant - and a small spellbook with spells that could be useful in everyday life. Nothing special but I was pretty sure that I would be using some of them pretty often.

My next stop was a simple shop with some artifacts that most wizards used nowadays. I didn't really expect to buy anything, but I wanted to see what they had.

To my surprise inside I found a pretty cheap forearm wand holster that I quickly bought. Its condition wasn't the best, but for now, it should be enough. At least now I didn't need to fear that I would break my wand in an accident.

Another thing that grabbed my attention was a row of mirrors. From what I had read, it was one of the artifacts that were meant to work like mundane TV. I had no clue how they exactly worked, but it could be useful later on as it also could communicate with other mirrors that were connected by some spell.

Of course, unlike mundane TV, wizards didn't have any permanent channels that played 24/7. They only transmitted when wizards had something important to show. I suspected that nothing apart from daily news and some important events made an appearance in those mirrors.

I wanted to buy one, but it would cost me too much money. For now, I would stick to newspapers regarding any news. I could try to earn enough money later.

With the decision made, I left the shop before I could spend more money on some unimportant things. I still had one more shop to visit before I would go back to the Children's Home.

Obscurus Books, the only shop in Diagon Alley that sold more than the most common books. When I passed by it during my trip with Dumbledore, I hoped that they might have at least something on Occlumency. I really needed some instructions on this particular art of magic if I wanted to finally fix my mind. I had enough of some random memories flashing before my eyes...

Unlike Flourish and Blotts, Obscurus Books had fewer people inside and most of them were probably already out of Hogwarts. Not surprising as most young children didn't really care about more reading material than they already had.

If it wasn't for my need to learn Occlumency, I would probably wait for the next Summer to go here. I didn't need people asking why and eleven years old without parents was browsing through books that even some adults never read. Unfortunately, the choice was taken out of my hands when I was put in this body with tons of memories that weren't mine.

The store had many books that I would probably buy in the future, but it took me good twenty minutes before I found what I was looking for.

_Know your mind by Eleanor Douglas._

Like most of the books I bought today, it was pretty thin and after skimming thought it I was pretty sure that it didn't go beyond beginner knowledge on Occlumency. I was fine with that as long as it helped me with my problem and fixed any mistakes I made during my experiments.

The basics were all I needed, I could worry about more later. Maybe Hogwart's restricted section would have something about this obscure art. I really doubted that the 'restricted' part would stop me for long.

As I finished my shopping earlier than I expected I went to find a less populated spot in the Alley. I had one more thing to try out.

Taking out my new wand I recalled the most simple spell and performed the required wand movement, "Lumos."

A small ball of light appeared on the tip of my wand and stayed there for a moment before I dismissed the spell with a quick, "Nox." After that, I began looking in the sky in search of the owl.

After ten minutes of waiting, I grinned widely. The lack of any ministry owls meant that I either didn't have a trace yet, it didn't work in magical areas or both of my previous thoughts were true. I knew that at first, I would only get a warning so I was planning to test it out in the Children's Home. Even if they couldn't detect my wandless magic, it could be different for wands.

Unfortunately, this was something I couldn't find in a book as I was pretty sure that the ministry didn't want people to know how exactly the trace worked.

I was somewhat sure that it didn't activate before the kids arrived in their schools, but I was wrong before. I only feared that if I was right then during the next summer they would be able to detect my wandless magic.

Sighing tiredly I left the Diagon Alley and treated myself to some dinner in the mundane world. Then I went back by a normal bus to my Home. Knight Bus could kiss my ass.

* * *

The rest of the summer quickly went by and the 1st of September finally came knocking.

The last few weeks of summer let me get familiar with the wizarding world to a good enough degree that I knew most of the things that I wanted. Well, at least the theoretical parts.

To my surprise apart from the modernization of the wizarding world after the last war, not much changed. Death Eaters still managed to avoid Azkaban. Harry Potter was hailed the hero. And Dumbledore still got his strong reputation from defeating Grindelwald in World War Two. I didn't found any mentions of the mundane part of the war, but I wasn't really surprised. Magicals didn't really like to speak about non-magical so I would probably need to search for information somewhere else.

From what I gathered the wizards might have adapted some of the modern ideas, but they only did it for more comfort in their lives. They definitely didn't care about the mundane world, well maybe apart from muggle-borns and some half-bloods. I couldn't really get a good enough picture of this situation as I didn't want to go around asking questions like that, and Hogwarts would probably give me an answer.

The books I bought in Alley helped me a bit. My Occlumency was finally working as it should be and all of my memories were sorted out and I could recall them a lot faster. My defenses were shaky at best as the book didn't really say much about defending yourself so I had to build them myself from the fanon knowledge. Again I didn't even know if they would work.

Thankfully apart from my continuous training of the mind arts, I could also practice magic, with a wand at that. And wasn't it surprising that the trace only activated after kids arrived at Hogwarts?

I tested it as soon as I arrived back from my trip to Diagon Alley. I could use my wand and no warnings ever came. For this summer it was great as it sped up my magical education a lot, but I knew that during the next summer this fact would bite me in the ass. After all, in HP-verse Dobby performed an act of magic in Harry's home and the boy was blamed for it. This little fact assured me that my wandless magic would probably get noticed when the trace activated.

It was going to be a pain in the ass to find a way around this restriction.

Oh well, at least now I was going to Hogwarts with most of the First-year material mastered. You couldn't expect a boy with the mental capabilities of an adult to have problems with lessons for eleven years olds. Besides, I wanted to master all the basics as fast as I could to move onto harder things while in Hogwarts.

Banishing those thoughts from my mind I looked at the building before me.

King's Cross Station.

It wasn't any different from the same station in my old life. I might have been here only a few times, but I still remembered my way around the station. Besides I came here quite early so the station wasn't as populated as it would be in an hour or two. I wanted to see people entering the station. I was curious if everyone looked like their character in movies. After all, Dumbledore looked exactly the same.

Shrugging I grabbed my trunk and searched for the barrier. Thankfully Dumbledore explained to me in detail where exactly it was so I had no problem with fiding it.

The moment I arrived near it I could feel magic radiating from the wall. If my guess was right then apart from the magical barrier, there were also quite a few wards around this place. Not surprising, but the amount of magic that was put in them was quite staggering.

With a last look around me, I ignored how idiotic I looked just standing there looking at a wall and stepped through the barrier.

The change was instant and I was no longer at the mundane train station but at the Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. There waited for me the same scarlet steam train that I saw in movies and read about in the books. It definitely was beautiful and I understood why they never changed the way of transport.

Like the mundane version, the magical platform was also almost empty. Only a few adults with their children were walking around, probably waiting for other families.

I ignored them and set my way straight to the train's entrance. I wanted to get a good seat and I didn't really have any reason to stay here.

The inside of the train was also mostly empty, but I instantly noticed that the compartments were refreshed and looked more modern and comfortable. Figures that they would agree to a change on the inside and not the outside.

Chuckling lightly I slid into an empty compartment that should have a good view at the entrance to the Platform and sat down by the window. I grinned to myself and relaxed in the seat.

_It is finally time to have some fun. I can't wait._


	6. Hogwarts

It was about half an hour later when the Platform began to get crowded. People came both through the magical barrier or the floo connection that I spotted in the corner. Like in Diagon Alley most of the people were dressed in modern clothing, but I could already see some kids wearing the robes required for the opening feast.

Why would the wear something so uncomfortable when we still had a few hours until arrival, I didn't know. I wasn't planning on changing as long as I could. After all how long did it wake to throw a robe over my clothing...

Snorting quietly I let my gaze wander over the people in the crowd. I wanted to see if I could spot anybody familiar. If people possessed their appearances in movies then my life would be a bit easier.

The first family I managed to spot were the Malfoys. Really it was hard to miss them with their platinum blond hair.

From what I could see Lucius was saying something to his son Draco, who was just nodding his head obediently. At least now I knew that yes, people had the exact same appearance from movies, or at least they were similar.

I tried to find more familiar faces, but unfortunately, it had been a few years since I watched anything related to Harry Potter. Fanfictions? Yes, but movies not so much...

At least I remembered how the main cast looked.

After being unsuccessful in my scouting I relaxed back in my seat and began playing with a small orb of light in my hands. It was simple wandless manipulation of 'Lumos', but it helped training my control over magic. Small and useful exercise to do when I was bored.

I was broken out of my practice when the doors to my compartment opened. I quickly dismissed the ball of light before anyone coudl spot it and looked at the new arrivals.

"Excuse me, do you mind if we join you?" a young female voice spoke to me.

"Be my guests," I responded curtly as my mind was trying to connect their faces to any of the Hogwarts students I knew of. Unfortunately, I had some problems with that so they were either some kids that never appeared neither in the books nor the movies, or my memory was just that bad...

The girl who asked the question had red hair that went a little over her shoulder. Her face was a bit pudgy while her eyes were blue... or at least I think it was blue. Apart from that, she was one of those who was already dressed in robes. While the girl seemed a bit familiar I really had no clue who she was.

The second girl that followed the read head was even more of an enigma to me. She had short blond hair. Freckles around her nose and grey eyes... I think. Unlike her companion, the girl was still dressed in normal clothing. Also, she seemed a bit shy.

When the girls finally sat down, the redhead decided to start introductions, "Hello, I'm Susan Bones and this is my friend, Hannah Abbott. You will need to excuse her, she is a bit shy around new people," she finished with a grin, but it was quickly replaced with a flinch when the blond girl jabbed her in the ribs.

Well, that was interesting. I couldn't believe that I forgot about the two. While they never made many appearances in books and movies, they were used quite often in fanfictions. Oh well, I could blame my forgetfulness at their fanon appearances. I didn't know why people in their stories tried to give eleven years olds looks of a supermodel...

I chuckled lightly at the interaction, "Nice to meet you, Logan Hunt."

After my short answer, a slightly uncomfortable silence fell upon the compartment. I was perfectly fine with ignoring it and just waiting for the train to start moving. I was a lot older mentally and I had no clue how to interact with kids. Unfortunately for me, Susan had other ideas.

"So are you excited to go to Hogwarts?" she asked when the silence was obviously unnerving her.

I shrugged, "Excited might be a bit too strong of a word, but yes I am happy to go. I only found out about magic a few months ago and I want to see more of it," It was really going to be hard. I just hoped that sooner or later I would adapt or people would notice that I act like a fucking adult.

Thankfully neither Susan nor Hannah seemed to notice. Maybe it would be easier than I thought

"You are Muggleborn," she stated, more than asked. For some, it might have sounded rude, but I didn't hear any negativity in her tone, just plain curiosity.

"I think I am, but I will never know," I lied simply, "I am an orphan so my parents could be magical, but I really doubt it."

Susan calmed down instantly when she heard my status and said quickly, "I'm sorry!"

She obviously referred to my orphan status, but I waved her off, "You didn't know and there is nothing to be sorry about. I never knew my parents and I know nothing about them."

Some good few lies would at least paint me as some random muggle-born kid who just wanted to explore the magical world. Perfect image for someone who wanted to be left alone for at least the first few years in Hogwarts.

My explanation made the girls relax a bit and this time it was Hannah who spoke. The shyness was still there, but the girls obviously wanted to change the topic, "Do you know about houses in Hogwarts?"

I nodded, "Yeah, one of the books I bought mentioned something about Houses and their function. Before you ask, I don't know where I will go. The book didn't say enough for me to get a good picture. "

The girl's smile fell a bit, "Oh well... I and Susan are hoping to end up in Hufflepuff. Most of our family members ended up there and while it is not a tradition, it is still something we would like to follow."

"I understand," I really didn't. While I knew that they just wanted to make their family proud. I was an orphan in both of my lives so I didn't really have anyone I wanted to please. Like always I worked for myself.

The girls asked a few more questions that I answered with half-truths. After that, they began talking between themselves and I thanked whoever was listening for those small mercies. I knew that I wouldn't escape more conversations with kids, but gossip between eleven-year-old girls wasn't something I wanted any part in.

I shuddered at the thought before taking a quick glance at my companions to see if the noticed my weird reaction.

Thankfully they didn't. I again could relax a bit and take a look out of the window. After all soon the train would leave and this meant that it was high time for the Weasleys and Harry to appear at the platform.

It was about five minutes later when a bunch of redheads with one black-haired boy appeared at the station. With a quick look, I confirmed that every member of the Weasly family looked the same as I remembered.

Finally, there was Harry Potter himself. He was small and skinny from what I could see. Which was expected from his not so normal childhood. Really sometimes I wondered if the kid wouldn't have a better life in a Children's Home.

Like always the boy wore round-rimmed glasses that saw better days and clothes that definitely didn't fit him. All in all, he looked just like I expected.

His arrival with the Weasleys only confirmed that for now, things were going according to the canon. That was good as I didn't want my foreknowledge to disappear before I even used it once...

Of course, even if my actions during the first year wouldn't cause many changes, I was sure that my plans for the second year, definitely would. That was of course if I didn't fuck something up before that.

I was broken out of my thoughts when the doors to our compartment opened again.

This time it was a boy, probably the same age as the rest of us. He was also already dressed in his robes, but they were scruffy and untidy, making the boy look like a slob. He also had sandy-colored hair and I again couldn't recognize him from the books or movies.

"Hello, can I join you?" the boy asked in a very distinct Irish accent, "Your compartment is the first one that has some seats left, I don't really want to search for an empty one through all of the train."

I shrugged, "Fine by me. Girls?" I asked motioning to the two females that sat across me.

Both Susan and Hannah quickly gave their permission and the boy sat down with a sigh of relief, "Thanks. It would be a pain to drag my trunk in search for an empty compartment. Mam didn't want to make it lighter, sadi I would do it when I learned it myself," he said with a snort, "I am Seamus Finnigan by the way."

Ah, now I remembered, he was a Gryffindor in Harry's year.

Susan again took over the introduction and I found myself without the need to say anything. Seamus was bombarded with questions just like I was in the beginning and after about ten minutes the boy looked at me searching for help.

I ignored him completely. I already went through this and didn't plan to fall into this trap again.

The boy was finally saved by the movement of the train. I also thanked for the sudden silence as my head was starting to hurt from the constant babbling. I really hated being a kid again...

From there, the ride went quite nice. I was mostly left alone to my reading, after all, there was no time to waste, but from time to time I would join in a conversation or some wizarding games that I had no clue how to play.

It was definitely an interesting experience and I could see why kids liked it.

Somewhere during the ride, a woman with the trolley came and I couldn't stop myself from buying some sweets from it. I had a sweet tooth, so what?

Thankfully the food was quite cheap so it didn't even put a dent in my pockets.

Finally hours later when it was already dark outside the train stopped and after we dressed in our robes, we went outside to join the rest of the students.

There were definitely a lot more students than either the books or movies showed. Not that I was surprised as after all this universe was much different so a bigger number of students was expected. Besides I always thought it weird that Hogwarts had only thirty or so pupils per year. I understood that the war reduced the number of magical population, but still.

We didn't need to wait long before I heard some shouting not that far away from my little group.

Like I expect it was Hagrid, the giant of a man whose face was hidden beneath a bushy beard and long black hair. We followed his orders and soon we all were packed into small boats.

The ride was cold - which told me to learn warming charm as soon as I could - and quite boring, at least until we got close enough to get a look at the magnificent castle of Hogwarts.

I never had a chance in my old life to travel around the world and see all of its wonders for myself, so to be honest it was my first time seeing something so beautiful. It also made me remember that with this being a mix of HP and MCU, I would be able to witness things that some people could only dream of.

Chuckling quietly I stepped out of the boat and followed my future classmates.

After a short walk, we came upon large doors that Hagrid proceeded to knock on with his massive fist.

The door opened at once and revealed a witch in emerald-green robes. Her hair was pulled back in a bun, and she gazed at all of us with a stern expression. If I didn't know who she was and I was as young as the rest of the kids there, I might have felt intimidated. Thankfully I wasn't so I just waited for McGonagall to do her part.

"The first years, Professor," Hagrid said before stepping back.

"Thank you Hagrid," she said curtly, "I shall take them from here."

We then followed McGonagall to the Entrance Hall which was much bigger than I remembered. I definitely wasn't going to believe all the things from the movies from now on. Unfortunately, I didn't remember the books apart from the characters and the major events.

_Curse you, fanon knowledge._

We didn't stop until we reached a smaller room with a closed door that I knew led to the Great Hall.

"The Sorting Ceremony will begin in a few minutes," the strict witch said. She then proceeded to explain the whole idea about the Houses that I read about at least a thousand times, "Wait here, I will be back for you in a moment."

After McGonagall left the room, the kids began to talk between themselves without a care in the world. It was only thanks to the appearance of the ghosts that the room again became silent.

I inspected every ghost intently, it was the first time that I saw something like this and I was definitely curious.

To my surprise when I switched my gaze to the last ghost, the Grey Lady, or as I knew from the books Helena Ravenclaw, she was already looking straight at me. I saw her frown heavily at me before she turned away and left quickly through the wall.

I really hoped that the ghost didn't make any connections between me and Tom Riddle. After all, he used something special to her to create his Horcrux. Oh well, I would deal with this new problem later...

Thankfully McGonagall came back a minute later so I decided to focus on what was going around me. We followed the woman through the door straight to the Great Hall and stopped at her command.

The Great Hall was certainly impressive. The thousands of candles that were floating in the air over four long tables. The decorations that the tables were full of, or the enchanted ceiling that showed everyone the starry night. All of it gave the room a certain charm. For the first time, I was glad that I was wearing my robes as I would feel out of place with my normal clothing.

I then looked back at McGonagall who was just finishing bringing out the three-legged stool and the Sorting Hat.

Of course, before the sorting could begin, Dumbledore who was sitting with the rest of the teachers stood up and gave his own short welcoming speech. Just like in canon he spoke about the Forbidden Forest, the third-floor corridor, and a few more things that definitely weren't in his original speech.

After that, we were treated to the Sorting Hat's song, which I definitely didn't always skip when I saw it in every story.

Finally, McGonagall took out a roll of a paper and began, "When I call your name, you will come forward, place the Sorting Hat on your head, and wait to be Sorted."

"Abbot, Hannah!"

The blond girl stumbled forward and up to the hat. McGonagall lowered the Hat and after a short pause it shouted, "Hufflepuff!" from there it progressed very slowly, really by the time McGonagall read my name I already counted fifteen minutes.

"Hunt, Logan!"

I casually stepped out of the line and sat down on the stool. Soon the hat fell on my eyes and I heard a voice in my head.

_"Welcome Mr. Hunt to Hogwarts. Let's see what we have here,"_ it or he said in a male voice, " _Oh my, it is the first time I have encountered someone like you. A reborn traveler from a universe completely different from ours. And reborn as the son of the last Dark Lord no less."_

I knew that this would happen, there was no way that the Sorting Hat would miss those parts of my life, _"I hope that all of this will remain between us."_

The Hat chuckled, _"Don't worry young man. After some very... unfortunate events, I was charmed to keep everything I see in the student's head a secret. Only if I see something that would threaten the school or students I can talk. And even with your plans and heritage, I can't see anything that would make me spill your secrets."_

I sighed in relief, _"That's good. So where will you place me?"_

The Hat hummed for a moment before speaking, _"You could go to pretty much every house apart from Hufflepuff, you don't really trust anyone."_

I thought about this for a moment. I didn't want to go to Slytherin, after all, I was a lowly muggle-born in their eyes and I didn't have the patience to deal with bigoted idiots.

I could go to Ravenclaw and be left alone to my own dealings, but I could also have that in Gryffindor. Besides going to the lion's house would give me easier access to the main cast in case I needed something and Dumbledore might leave me alone if I want to the House of the Brave.

Yeah, that was the best choice I could think of.

_"If that's what you want then so be it and better be a_ Gryffindor!" the Hat shouted at the end.

I received a warm welcome like every new member of the House and walked to join them at their table. I took a quick peek at Dumbledore and saw him giving me a wide smile. At least now I knew that it was the right decision and hopefully I wouldn't need to worry about Albus spying on me.

From there the sorting went without a hitch, at least until McGonagall read Harry Potter's name.

Canonically the whole Hall went silent before the whispering began. I watched amused as Harry timidly sat on the stool and began his own sorting. A minute later the Hat shouted the expected House and Gryffindor exploded in cheers.

Harry sat down a few seats away from me and I decided to just tune out everything around me.

Yeah, my placement in Gryffindor House might have a lot of advantages, but why were they so FUCKING LOUD!?


	7. Blending in

Somehow I managed to get through the rest of the feast without murdering anyone. It really wasn't easy, but thankfully after the excitement died off, people at Gryfindor table became a bit quieter. Don't get me wrong, they were still the loudest bunch in the Great Hall and I really hoped that they wouldn't be like that every feast.

After the 'wonderful' feast ended, the first years were led to the Gryffindor common room by Prefects. During our trip there I was sure of one thing. People in the wizarding world were mad. Nothing else could explain a large number of moving stairs or false corridors. I wouldn't be surprised if someone died due to this shit in the past.

It was going to take a lot of time to learn my way around the castle. At least until I could get my hand on the Marauder's map or something similar to it. A normal map wasn't going to help here much if I didn't want to waste too much time. The knowledge of secret passages would be really useful, but I could try to discover them by myself. Unfortunately, my knowledge from canon about any passages disappeared a long time ago...

Oh well, I should probably focus on what was going on around me and at least try to remember the way back to the Great Hall.

After another few very boring minutes of walking through the dark corridors of Hogwarts, we arrived before the famous Fat Lady. The Prefects explained everything about passwords and curfews. Not that I would care about the latter.

When we finally walked into the common room, I again quickly observed it and came to the conclusion that yes, it was almost the same as in canon, only much bigger. Not surprising taking into consideration the number of students I saw at the Gryffindor table.

The room was cozy, full of squashy armchairs, tables, and had a bulletin board where school notices, ads, and other things could be posted. The coloring and decorations were in many shades of red and surprisingly it looked quite good. I also saw a small bookshelf in the corner, but I doubted that there was anything useful there.

After all of the first years finished their staring, the Prefects again spoke and informed us of our new dormitories, the rules inside the common room, and a few other unimportant things that I didn't bother listening to.

Finally, they let us go and all of the first years instantly went to their new dormitory.

Once again it was larger than any description from books hinted at. The room had two long rows of beds on each side and if my math wasn't failing me then there were sixteen of them, which matched the number of new male Gryffindors.

As expected out things were already waiting for us by their respective beds. Thankfully I spotted my trunk near the bed in the corner and I sighed in relief. At least I would only need to worry about a neighbor from one side.

I ignored the conversations that began to flow between my new classmates and quickly walked to my bed. There I fell back on it and zoned out for a moment. Only now it came to me that I would need to spend every night in a room with more than a dozen eleven-year-old brats. God, it would be a miracle if I didn't murder someone before the end of the year...

I lied there silently for another few minutes trying to convince myself that it was all worth before I felt someone touch my shoulder.

The sight that greeted me upon opening my eyes was surprising as standing before me was the young Harry Potter.

"Uh, hi. I wanted to see if everything was alright," he said a bit shyly, "Besides my bed is next to yours so it would be good to at least know the person that is sleeping next to you."

_Damn, if only he knew how wrong it sounded,_ I thought amused before I stood up and extended my hand.

"Everything is fine, don't worry. I'm Logan Hunt by the way," I said with a smile, after all, a good first impression was important and I didn't really want to make Potter my enemy on day one.

"Harry Potter," the boy said taking my offered hand.

"Ah, the famous 'boy-who-lived," I said making air quotes to show how stupid the title sounded. Obviously, it worked as Harry released a weak chuckle, "You will need to forgive me, but I don't have any fancy title, besides I really doubt that you enjoy yours huh?"

"Yeah," he replied tiredly, "Unfortunately almost everyone I met think differently."

I snorted, "Don't worry about that. Give them a few weeks or months and no one is going to care anymore... Now I am going to hit the sack, we have classes tomorrow and I want to be well-rested for them," a big lie, but he didn't need to know that.

The boy nodded, politely bid me good night, and went back to talking with Ron if I wasn't wrong.

Well, I definitely made an acquaintance with Harry. I wasn't aiming for being friends with his future group as I never really liked Hermione and Ron too much, but being in Potter's good graces would definitely help in the future. I showed him that I didn't care about his title and was pretty easy to talk to.

_Oh well, at least one less thing to do later._

The conversation with Potter definitely made the day a bit better. Also, the fact that his bed was next to mine was also nice. Now I wouldn't need to approach him at a later date when he was surrounded by other people. And I was quite sure that he would, either by Ron or some of the students that were never in canon.

Not that I cared for now. I got what I wanted and could go to sleep knowing that at least tomorrow I would be able to get out of this room.

* * *

Life at Hogwarts definitely was interesting. Almost everywhere you went, you would encounter something magical. Of course, I still thought that the moving stairs were a death trap. I even voiced my opinion a few times when I was conversing with my classmates, but only muggle-borns and Harry agreed with me.

I tried to meet more people during those last few weeks. After all, it would be good to at least know who would live with you in the same room for the next few years.

I got to meet most of the main cast, apart from the few individuals from other houses and I had to admit that I definitely wouldn't socialize with any of them at least until they got a bit older. Yes, I could exchange a few words with them, but any long conversation made me mentally cringe. It was just too weird to try and act like a kid again when you never truly were one. Besides no one enjoyed my good, old dark humor even when it made me lose a bunch of points for using vulgar language.

Bunch of uneducated brats...

With my current social standing, it wasn't a surprise that apart from some conversations during classes and in our dormitory, I mostly became a loner. Not that I minded it, quite the opposite, I enjoyed my time away from people. It gave me more opportunities to explore the castle and learn more magic.

I already knew my way to most of the more important locations in the castle, but there was still a lot left to discover. The room of requirements was one of the places I wanted to visit, but it was a risk with Voldemort infested Quirell in the castle. After all, his 'father' had a Horcrux there and I didn't want to risk him checking on it when I was inside. At least not yet.

Voldemort was another subject that troubled me every time when I had lessons with Quirell. I managed to get a seat in the back so he would never really look at me, but from time to time I still felt like someone was watching me during lessons. It was unnerving and I really hoped that the man didn't suspect anything even if my appearance was an almost dead giveaway.

Thankfully every other lesson wasn't as mentally taxing. I already learned everything that a first-year needed to know before school started so I didn't have any problems with completing my tasks. Even then I held myself a bit back so people wouldn't ask how I did everything perfectly on the first try. With my performance, I would still get mostly perfect marks - not including Herbology and Astronomy as those subjects were too boring even for me -, so I hoped to get the bonus money at the end of the year.

Apart from that I mostly studied magic that I would need in the next few weeks.

Concealment and detection spells.

If I wanted to move freely in the castle then I needed the ability to hide from everyone's view completely and be able to find out if anybody was spying on me. My ability to be stealthy was quite good, but against magic, it wouldn't do anything. Besides I wanted to know if Dumbledore put any tracking spells on me. If I was him, then I definitely would.

Thankfully after I learned some of the spells that could detect any charms that would spy on me, I found out that I had nothing on my person. It was a shocking but not unwelcome surprise. It seemed that the Headmaster trusted me more than he probably should. I guess that my acting wasn't as bad as I thought.

Those two branches of magic weren't easy to learn. They required a lot of control and magical power that an eleven-year-old shouldn't have. Thankfully due to my training without and with a wand during the summer, I was capable of performing most of the required spells after a few weeks silently. Wandlessly they were still beyond me, but I was sure that with time I would be able to use them.

All in all, everything was going according to my plans and soon I would be able to finally make my first move.

* * *

"I am all ears. What do you think about the boy?" Dumbledore asked his two trusted friends after they finished the monthly teacher meeting. The rest of the professors already left the room and now the Headmaster could finally find out more about the mysterious boy from his most trusted teachers.

"He is good, Albus, very good. Mr. Hunt definitely inherited his talent for magic from his parents," Minerva said even though she grimaced a bit at the last part.

That was quite right, Albus already saw the class results from most of the professors, and young Logan was on top in almost every one of them. Of course, there wasn't anything wrong with being on top of the class, but him being Voldemort's son made it a bit disturbing.

"I know Minerva. I read the reports. I want to know what you think of him, he is in your house after all," Dumbledore said after a moment.

"And wasn't his sorting the biggest surprise in my life," the old witch replied visibly annoyed, "From what I gathered he acts like some of the muggle-born children that we always get every year. He studies a lot but shows no problems socializing with other kids, even if the boy spends most of his time alone. He definitely possesses many similar traits to his father but lacks you-know-who's coldness. I even heard him using some jokes during my lessons, I wonder where he heard some of the things he said."

Albus really tried to hide his amusement when Minerva went on a rant about how it was unbecoming of a young child to use such dark humor. Maybe he really was unnecessarily worrying about young Logan.

"I understand Minerva. Thank you," Dumbledore finally said to stop his friend from speaking further, "Severus anything to add?"

"Not really Headmaster," the Potion professor replied, "The boy is definitely talented, but even I couldn't find anything wrong about him. Only legilimency could tell us more."

McGonagall instantly narrowed her eyes at Severus, "You will do no such thing. Mr. Hunt didn't do anything wrong and even if he is _his_ son, we can't just break the law so you could satiate your curiosity. He doesn't know anything about his parents and obviously had a much better life than you-know-who."

Dumbledore quickly raised his hand up, "Don't worry Minerva. Legilimency is out of the question," he then took a small pause so his coworkers could calm down before continuing, "For now you can go. But please keep me informed if you notice something."

Both Minerva and Severus bid him goodbye and left his office.

Dumbledore relaxed back in his chair and stroked his beard. This meeting definitely shined some light on his problem and maybe now the old Headmaster would be able to focus on things that needed his full attention. Like the trap, he was trying to create.

Voldemort definitely knew about the stone. The question was if he would take the bait.

Dumbledore really hoped that he would, Albus needed to get rid of or at least capture the leftovers of Voldemort before he caused more problems. Maybe then Dumbledore would be able to sleep in peace without fearing that SHIELD would take things into their own hands.

* * *

Sometimes Lord Voldemort really wondered where he had gone wrong in his plan to win the wizarding war.

He, after all, was the most powerful Dark Lord to appear in the world in many decades. And even though the old fool Dumbledore was a pain in the ass to deal with, the old Headmaster still couldn't defeat him.

He was so close to finally taking over magical Britain and then spreading his conquest on the rest of Europe. Of course like always something must have gone wrong. The damned prophecy ruined everything.

If only he knew that this stupid mudblood would prepare somethign to save the little brat. It was a mistake on his part, he should have never rushed forward like that. Those mudbloods always came up with surprising ways to save themselves and Voldemort again underestimated them.

Of course, the Dark Lord wouldn't get truly defeated by some stupid miracle. His Horcruxes ensured his survival.

Still, the night cost Voldemort his body and now he was reduced to a shade that needed to possess other beings to regain his strength. Thankfully the old fool decided to leave the one artifact that would let him regain his body in the school full of children.

Even though his attempt to steal it from Gringotts failed, thanks to Quirrel's position, Voldemort was able to get inside Hogwarts without anyone noticing. While he didn't enjoy listening to his host when he was trying to teach the children anything, at least one good thing came out of it.

A boy, quite similar in appearance to Voldemort's young self. The Dark Lord knew that it wasn't possible for the child to be his son. Bellatrix would never go against his order and no child of his would ever be in the House of Brave idiots. So the boy's appearance was either a big coincidence or Voldemort's most trusted follower wasn't as obedient as he thought.

Still, the young mudblood was good with magic, so Voldemort would try to remember to make a background check on the boy and see who exactly he was.

For now, it would need to wait as just in a few minutes the Dark Lord would get another chance to get the stone.

The release of the troll should buy him enough time to steal the stone and either escape in case of success or safely get back if he failed. After that, it would only be a matter of time before he regained his body and took his sweet revenge on the Potter brat.

* * *

The day finally came and I was ready to visit the first mysterious place in Hogwarts.

Two days ago, during the Holloween feast, everything happened exactly like it did in canon. Quirell screaming about the troll before faking a faint in the Great Hall, Harry running away with Ron to save Hermione, and the rest of the school running around like headless chickens.

It certainly was very amusing and I got what I wanted from this event.

I noticed that sometimes during some classes, teachers would observe me for longer periods. It wasn't hard to deduce that Dumbledore told them to keep an eye on me. Unfortunately, this also limited my freedom in the castle.

So I waited for the first major event to happen in hopes that maybe it would take the attention from me for at least some time.

Thankfully it did and today I would visit the infamous Chamber of Secrets. I already prepared everything, including the rooster as apparently it really worked against Basilisks. Dumb as fuck, but it would at least save me if things went wrong. I hoped to make peace with the creature and just leave it alone while I searched through the Chamber in hopes of finding something better than Slytherin's statues.

After everyone fell asleep, I used disillusionment charm and every other concealing spell before I slowly sneaked out from Gryffindor Tower.

Upon arriving at Second Floor Girls' Lavatory I used some detection spells to make sure that there were no wards near the entrance. Thankfully I encountered zero wards and entered the Bathroom.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I noticed that the Moaning Myrtle wasn't there. While my spells hid from her sight I would need to postpone my visit to the Chamber if she was here.

"Open," I hissed at the snake-engraved sink. It slowly slid open, revealing the long pipe that led to the Chamber of secrets. I hissed one more time in hopes that it would work, "Stairs."

Nothing happened, _Well fuck you too fanon._

Groaning quietly I slid into the pipe and ordered the sink to close before I would fall too far.

The way down definitely wasn't too comfortable and unfortunately, I didn't know any spells that would help me with that yet. Something to research at a later date.

The corridor that led to the main chamber was almost completely the same as in canon so I was very careful to not fuck something up and cause a cave in like Lockhart did in the books.

Finally, I came to the next sealed doors and after a deep breath, I hissed again, "Open."

The main chamber while grand, definitely wasn't in my style. It was long and dimly lit with towering stone pillars entwined with serpents that rose to the ceiling only to be lost in darkness. And finally the large statue of Slytherin himself at the end of the Chamber.

Now I just needed to deal with the basilisk and then try to find something more useful than the old serpent. For once I hoped that fanon wouldn't fail me and that there was at least some truth to it.

_Alright, let's do it... and hopefully not die._


	8. The true Secrets

Silenced rooster, ready to be unleashed upon the lovely about fifty feet long Basilisk?

Check.

My wand, that probably wouldn't help me if something went wrong?

Check.

And finally, a quick escape route if both friendly conversation and rooster failed?

Check.

_Yep, I think I am ready,_ I thought a bit nervously. After all, it wasn't every day that you confronted an ancient magical beast that could kill you with its gaze. I really wanted to be better combat-ready for this meeting, but it would probably take me a few more months of non-stop training to be able to kill Basilisk in one versus one fight.

I didn't want to try my luck as Harry did in canon, besides I doubt that Fawkes would fly here with the Sorting hat just to help me. That wasn't happening so as soon as something would go wrong I was getting the hell out of here and not coming back until I was sure that I could win against the snake.

"Here we go I guess. Speak to me, Slytherin, the greatest of Hogwarts Four," I still thought that was the most stupid phrase I ever spoke. Really couldn't he think of something more original? Besides, it sounded so weird.

Oh well, let see what the Basilisk got for me or rather not see as I closed my eyes.

I was still under the many concealment spells with a rooster that was ready to get unsilenced, so when I heard the statue opening I crossed my fingers and hoped that the creature wouldn't try to kill me instantly.

"Another speaker. Are you my new master?" it spoke. I wasn't sure about its gender so I wasn't going to assume. And its question about me being its master showed that I had a good chance of coming out of here alive.

"You could say that. Now would it be too much to ask you to close your eyes?" I asked it slowly. I wanted to take a look at the Basilisk and without the risk of dying. Besides, there was a lot of water around me so I could also turn into stone if I saw its eye in it.

The Basilisk was silent for a moment and I dreaded that plan B would be coming into action soon. Damn, and I was hoping to have a big ass snake for a pet. Oh well, I could always get something different.

"I can. My previous masters always asked for the same thing, I got good with moving without my sight," thank god it spoke and it seemed like I had some control over it.

"Thank you," I said as I opened my eyes and finally looked at the magnificent beast. It was long like I expected with beautiful dark green skin. Its eyes were really closed and I instantly relaxed a bit, "Well aren't you a beauty."

The Basilisk raised its head proudly. At least now I knew that it liked compliments, definitely something to remember.

"Who are you master," the creature asked tilting its head to the side. Maybe if it wasn't so huge I would call the action cute, "I can feel the magic of my previous master in you. What happened to him?"

Straight to the point eh? I could work with that.

"That's a tricky question. I am his son, and I doubt that you will meet my 'father' ever again," I really didn't want to explain my relation to Voldemort to big ass Basilisk so saying that I was his son was much easier.

"Is he dead?" it asked curiously.

"Not fully," I answered quickly, "About a decade ago he was vanquished and nowadays he traverses the world as a weak shade. No one knows if he will come back in the future."

Well, I knew when he would come back, but I wasn't about to tell Voldemort's entire story to the creature. And I definitely wouldn't tell it that currently, Voldemort was in the castle riding Quirrel's head. I wanted the Basilisk to recognize me as its master so there was no place for Voldemort here.

"I understand master," it nodded its head, "What will you have me do now. Every master gave me some commands to follow."

That was understandable. To be honest I would be okay with the Basilisk sleeping for the rest of its life so I wouldn't need to worry about it. Still, I guess I could think of a few commands that would provide me with what I wanted.

"There is not much that I want from you," I began, "One, I am fine with you going back to sleep, I don't really need your service for now. Two, If any other parselmouth comes here when I am still alive, you won't listen to their commands. And finally three, can you tell me if there is anything else in the Chamber besides this big hall and your sleeping chambers?"

The snake moved back to Slytherin's statue before it turned back to me with its eyes still closed, "Your commands are simple and very similar to every other order I received from my previous masters. If you follow me to my sleeping chambers and walk through the only corridor you will find a few rooms that almost all of my masters used after discovering this chamber. Remember if there will be anything you need from me just use the awakening phrase."

With that, the Basilisk slithered through the open mouth and disappeared from my sight.

This whole conversation definitely went better than I expected. The rooster was not needed and I was still standing here completely fine. I now also had a huge Basilisk under my command and it just confirmed that there was something more in this Chamber. Now all that was left for me was to go and explore. Hopefully, the rooms would have something I could use.

As the concealment spells were no longer needed, I quickly dropped them to save my magic and summoned a small ball of light in my left hand. I would deal with the rooster later, for now, it could remain shrunken in my pocket.

I carefully stepped through the entrance and entered the large room where I could see the Basilik coiled in the corner. It was already sleeping and this single fact made me lose that last bits of my nervousness. The creature was the only real problem with the chamber so with it asleep I was free to do whatever I wanted.

As the Basilisk said, there was a single corridor in the room that was again dimly lit. It wasn't that long and soon I entered an average-sized room that was mostly empty. It had a few stone stands and a lot of runes carved in the walls. While I wasn't sure what the room exactly was, I had my suspicions.

I walked into another room and this one was a bit smaller. It possessed rows of stone and wood shelves that again were completely empty. This probably was some sort of storage. I really hoped that it wasn't meant for books or artifacts. That would mean that the previous parselmouths took everything out of here.

Thankfully my fear went away when I entered the last room. It was the smallest of them all but held things that I wanted the most.

It was a simple study, with a large working desk, a very old and comfortable looking chair, and multiple bookshelves that held books and scrolls alike. I instantly noticed that some of the books seemed newer than the others, but this was again expected as the Basilisk told me that the previous parselmouths also used these chambers.

I began to browse through the multiple shelves to see if I could find anything of interest.

I already spotted a lot of books that I wanted to read, but I also saw tomes that were written in a foreign language or were partially destroyed. I would probably need to sit down here in the future and check what exactly I could even use.

Apart from that I also noticed a few spots that books were obviously missing and I couldn't help but frown. I didn't know if it was Voldemort that stole them, but they definitely were important if someone decided to take them.

With a sigh, I sat down on the chair and enjoyed the comfort it provided.

While it was true that I expected the Chamber to have more than just a basilisk and a big hall inside, it was good to have confirmation. I always thought it weird that the infamous Slytherin wouldn't use his secret chamber for more than just housing a Basilisk. Now I knew that indeed the Chamber hid more than one Secret.

I sat there thinking for a few more minutes before I finally let my gaze wander around the room. Apart from the previously mentioned things the room was quite plain and while I didn't expect to find any fancy decorations here, it still seemed wrong to me.

Finally, my gaze settled on one of the empty parts of the wall across me, then it slid to the bookshelf next to it. My eyes instantly narrowed when I saw the weird placement of the shelf. It was irregular and looked as someone moved it in the past.

I quickly shot up from my seat and took out my wand.

I could try to move the shelf without the foci, but the furniture was probably pretty heavy and it would be much easier to just use my wand.

With a few flicks of my hand, the shelf slowly moved, and I finally spotted what it was hiding. I didn't really understand why someone would try to conceal something like this, but I always knew that magical people were weird.

And what exactly was hiding behind the shelf? Well, it was a portrait, quite a small one if you asked me.

The man in the painting was easily recognizable and it took me only a second to mutter out, "I will be damned, Salazar Slytherin. Now the question is, are you enchanted or not?"

Slytherin's portrait probably heard me as it instantly turned to look at me and opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. I frowned at the little revelation as from what I knew, it should be able to talk without any problems... Maybe with how old the portrait was some of the enchantments just ran out.

"Why can't I hear you?" I tried to ask. Maybe it had another way of answering my question.

It seemed like he did and one of Slytherin's hands rose to his throat and then pointed at my wand. I stood there confused for a moment before I finally understood what the ancient wizard meant.

Slightly embarrassed, I pointed my wand at the portrait and used one of the spells that mostly work better with an incantation, "Finite."

Thankfully the spell worked and Slytherin instantly began talking, "That's better. If it wasn't for that stupid child, I would never be in such a position. Now boy, tell me your name. I want to know who my new heir is, even though I have my suspicions."

His request was spoken more like an order and I felt like Slytherin didn't particularly like me for whatever reason.

"Logan Hunt," I answered simply and left it at that. I would let the older man speak before I tried anything.

"Hunt?" Slytherin said quite confused, "I thought your name would be Riddle. This blasted child was the reason why I was silenced and you look quite similar to the boy."

Of course, it was Voldemort who hid the portrait. Now instead of a potential ally, I had an angry portrait after me. I could try and convince him that I was against Tom. It would probably mean revealing some of my knowledge that I shouldn't have, but the portrait couldn't really reveal my secrets to anyone. If the man didn't listen to me, I would just silence and hide it as Voldemort did.

"I am his child if that's what you think," I began and quickly continued when I saw Slytherin opening his mouth, "But I don't identify with him. He is no father of mine. He wanted a female child so he could use the baby in some ritual, but as I was born a male, he ordered one of his followers to dispose of me. I was then raised in a muggle home for orphans. I only learned about the wizarding world a few months ago."

My explanation left the ancient wizard silent for a moment. He looked quite thoughtful and when he finally spoke, his voice was no longer angry, "I know the ritual you speak of. A vile thing to do to your own child only to boost your power... The question is, how do you know about those things if you were a baby back then? Even more, how do you know about this chamber if you only rejoined the wizarding world a few months ago?"

And here it was. The question that I already expected. I would be taking quite the leap of faith here, but if I succeeded then I would get the support of a very powerful wizard. Well his portrait's, but it would still be useful.

"You see, that's where things get very complicated..." I replied and with this began my very long explanation of how I was transported into this body, of the changes to this universe, the other powers in the universe, and the possible futures. As I said, it was a portrait that only Voldemort knew about - and there was definitely some bad blood between the two -, so I didn't need to fear that somehow Slytherin would tell others about my secrets. The problem was in making the old wizard believe me, but I could get to that later.

"Quite a story you have there, boy," Slytherin spoke after I finished my very long monologue, "If it wasn't for the fact that I already knew about some of the things you mentioned, I wouldn't even try to believe you. But yet here you are the biggest proof that I could possibly get."

"So you really believe me?" I asked hopefully.

"Mostly," the ancient wizard answered with a frown, "Some of the things you spoke of are unbelievable. Beings from beyond the stars or objects that could be used to destroy us on a whim. It will take time and proof to make me believe in everything you said."

"I guess that's better than nothing," I said quietly but looked back at Slytherin when he chuckled.

"When I was alive, I loved discovering new things, and even though I am now only a portrait. Your story made me excited. If even some of your plans succeed then I will witness things that others could only dream of. I will help you as much as I can boy, but before that I want you to answer my one question. Why do you want this power? While I am not against amassing it for yourself as I did the same during my life, there is always a hidden goal behind it all. So tell me what is yours."

That wasn't a question I expected. Definitely not from Salazar Slytherin. Still, the man raised a good point, why did I even want all this power? I knew that I would require it to survive some of the future events that would happen in MCU, but was it all?

No. This power was meant to give me complete freedom. To go wherever I wanted and whenever I wanted.

And while I could become a hero or even a villain, it wasn't for me, too restricting. I would still need to deal with some of the powerful beings that would definitely come after me or stand on my road to Power. But I already accepted this fact, after all, the power I wanted, wouldn't be easy to get.

Still, there was something that I really wanted to do in the future and it could pose as my goal for now.

"I told you about the multiverse. I guess apart from being able to survive the future and have full freedom of my actions, I would like to travel through the universes. The unlimited amount of words just waiting for me to discover them. I know that it might sound like a weird goal, but that's what I want to do," and it really was. I already got placed in a universe that was a mix of HP and MCU so what else waited for me on the horizon.

Surprisingly Slytherin shook his head, "No it is perfectly understandable. Everyone wants something else and even I am curious if the multiverse you are talking about is real."

Huh, Slytherin was really different than I expected. Maybe it was time to find out what all of this was really about.

"If you don't mind me asking. You seem a lot different than the man everyone is picturing you as. The only evil founder that hated all that was mundane. Why is that and why Voldemort hid you?"

The portrait sighed heavily, "That's a subject that some of my heirs already asked me so I will just say it again. There were a lot of moments in my life that could be used to define me as evil. Some of them were necessary while others were not. People used those events to twist my character to the public, but I already made peace with it. As to my stand on muggle-borns. Even if I hold some dislike for them, it is far from hate. I just think that they are a danger to our world and I refuse to let them destroy us.

You need to understand that in my times every wizard and witch that were caught by muggles and couldn't escape, was killed. So when a muggle-born appeared, we risked our lives when we introduced them to our world. It was a big risk, a risk that I didn't want to take. I know of the Statute of Secrecy that was created after even more violent events happened long after my death, so I think that I was right to fear what muggles could do to the wizarding world. Now that you have told me about the super-powered people that will start to appear in the next few years and what muggles are capable of in current times, I am even more sure of my decision."

Well, that definitely was interesting, but the portrait was quite right. The more people knew about the wizarding world, the bigger was the risk of mundanes finding out about it. And no amount of oblivations and secret agencies would help when that happened. People fear what they cannot understand and a whole population of wizards and witches would definitely make people scared.

Still, the portrait didn't answer the second part of my question, "And my _father_?"

The portrait shrugged, "He didn't agree with my view. He wanted to rule over muggles. I called him an idiot and refused to help him. The rest you already know."

Damn, I would love to see this. Teenage Voldemort not getting support from his beloved ancestor.

Smiling a bit at the thought, I asked the ancient wizard again just to make sure, "So you really will help me?"

"Of course I will. I am very curious about what you will accomplish and it would be a sin to miss it, even if you are in Gordic's House," Slytherin stated, but tried to hide the last part with a whisper.

_Great, why did I even tell him where I was sorted..._


	9. Progress

"Those infinity stones, what are they exactly?" Salazar asked after I finished recounting what happened in the wizarding world when his portrait was hidden behind the shelf.

I sighed and relaxed back in my chair, "Infinity Stones are six immensely powerful objects. Each of them is tied to a different aspect of the universe. Space, Reality, Power, Soul, Mind, and Time. From what I remember they were created by Cosmic Entities. What those Entities are I don't know. Never researched that far."

I probably would have if I fucking knew that I would be put in the MCU. It was really frustrating, but it couldn't be important if I didn't remember it.

"So you want to gather those stones?" the ancient wizard asked skeptically.

I shrugged lightly, "I don't know about gathering them all, but if I could get my hands on even one of those stones, then maybe I could somehow use it. There is only one important problem with those objects," at my pause, Slytherin raised an eyebrow motioning me to continue, "Remember what I said just a moment ago? Those stones represent an aspect of the universe. No mere human can control them. If I were even to touch one of those stones now, I would probably die. Yes, I have magic, but I doubt it would help that much. Of course, there is also the possibility of creating some sort of artifact that would be able to channel the power of the stones, but I doubt that you have the skills required to do that as I certainly don't have any."

Salazar looked thoughtful for a moment before he finally spoke, "So before we can even think of getting the Stones, we need to make you powerful enough to use them... I can think of a few methods, but I would like to hear your ideas first."

"My ideas eh?" I said quietly, mostly to myself, "As I told you, this universe posses a lot of superpowered individuals. Some of them were born this way, but others were created with science. Gamma radiation that created Hulk, Extremis virus, or Super Soldier Serum. All of those things would take me one step closer to the power I need... There are also the Inhumans that live between humans or in their safe-heaven. Unfortunately, I have no clue how I could go about stealing their power or even gaining it by myself. Terrigenesis doesn't just work on anyone, you need to have a gene for it."

Of course, I knew a few more methods that could help me, but I really didn't want to describe all of them now. Besides those were ideas that I would use if my primary plans didn't work.

"So you only thought about muggle ways to attain what you want?" Slytherin asked slightly annoyed.

I snorted in response, "Of course not. I am well aware that I don't possess the required abilities to use these things. Science was never my forte. Besides, I am a wizard now and I know that magic isn't only about spells. Rituals, potions, runes, and more. I am sure that I will find ways to make myself stronger with those."

Salazar nodded in acceptance, "Good. For a moment I feared that you would throw your magic away like an idiot. I might have lived centuries ago, but from my own experience, I know that there is almost nothing that magic can't do... During my life, I loved discovering new rituals and finding out what else they could do. Trust me when I say this if you have the required ingredients then a well-prepared ritual can accomplish almost anything."

I breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good to know. For a moment I thought that I would really need to learn all of this science shit or kidnap someone who would do everything for me."

Not that I was against those things, but I had magic so I shouldn't need to use science for all of my goals. Besides if I kidnapped some important scientists I was pretty sure that I would have some people after me.

The ancient wizard laughed loudly, "If you think that creating a completely new ritual is easy, then you will be sorely disappointed. Runes, potions, the knowledge of ingredients, each of those subjects is needed if you want to make a ritual that won't kill you. Even with my knowledge I won't be able to help you with everything, after all, I am only a portrait, so you will have a lot to learn. Now get the book from the highest shelf on your right. It is quite thick."

I quickly stood up and began to search for the book. A few times I took the wrong one, but finally, I found the book he told me about. It definitely was old, but still well preserved.

I dropped it on the table, opened it on the first page, and raised my eyebrow incredulously, "It is written in Latin," I said dryly.

"Yes, it is. Will it be a problem?" the ancient wizard asked challengingly.

_Of course, it is!_ _I know that I would probably end up learning a new language soon, but still... Fucking portrait._

"No," I replied in defeat. At least Latin would help me with both learning new spells and reading more books in this room. I only hoped that Slytherin wouldn't tell me to learn another language after I learned this one.

"This book will teach you everything you need to know about rituals in the beginning. It was written by me and then updated by my descendants so it should be mostly up to date. At the end of the tome, you will find one very important ritual that you NEED to perform," Salazar began explaining when I started to skim through the book in hopes of finding anything that would make sense to me. I was unsuccessful...

"Why?" I asked simply.

"It is a ritual that I created after I examined some of the people that performed many rituals on their body and found out that they can have various negative effects. My ritual will prepare your entire being to accept any changes made by the future rituals you will perform. Of course, I doubt that we will get rid of every possible negative outcome, but it will at least greatly reduce them. You don't need to worry, it is perfectly safe and ingredients for it are very easy to find. Now tell me, what is the date?"

I raised an eyebrow at the sudden question, "The beginning of November. Why?"

The portrait smiled widely in response, "Great. You have time to the winter solstice to learn everything that's in the book and prepare the ritual. Any questions?"

My mouth opened in shock, "What?! You expect me to learn a new language and everything that's in the book in a month and a half? Are you mad?"

The portrait shrugged casually, making me even more frustrated, "It either that or we wait the whole year for another solstice, the ritual won't work without it. Your choice."

"Fucking great," I murmured, "Alright, I will try. Still, the book is quite thick so I doubt I will succeed. Besides if I want to have any chance to make it in time, then I will need to stop my other studies."

And wasn't that the sad truth.

The ancient wizard waved me off, "As long as you try, you will succeed. You told me that you already mastered first-year material so stoping your normal studies for a while won't hurt you."

He of course was right. I had no problems with mastering any new topics and it only took me a bit more time to learn how to use some of the spells that could be used wandlessly and silently. I could sacrifice those few weeks to learn an art that would help me in the long run.

"I will do that," I finally replied after a long moment of silence, "Now if you could tell me if there are any other exits from the Chamber. I don't fancy going back through the pipe. It would be pretty tiring and frustrating."

Even now I was cursing my stupidity of not taking a broom with me. Of course, I could go back with the help of some spells, but as I said, it would be tiring.

Thankfully Slytherin nodded, "There are two more. One is located in the chamber where my basilisk sleeps and it leads to the Forest near Hogwarts. The second one is in the storage room and should take you to the first floor. All of the exits are hard to discover so you don't need to fear anyone seeing you. Now go, it has been a few hours and people might notice that you are gone."

With that said I quickly followed the portrait's instruction and soon I was back in the castle of the first floor. The sun was already rising and even though I had my concealment spells activated I wanted to get back to my dorms as soon as I could.

One thing was certain, it would be a long day without any sleep...

* * *

With nothing too important happening in the castle, the weeks again began to went by quicker than usual. While most of the first years were worried about the end of the term exams, I was trying to accomplish the task given to me by Salazar.

It was hard learning the new language, but thankfully my deadline and occlumency made me work faster. Also, Hogwart's library had some good books that helped with learning the language a lot.

I knew that I was still bad with using Latin and there was a lot that I still needed to learn, but at least after a few weeks, I could translate the ritual book to an acceptable degree. Then I had only two weeks left to master what was inside the book and prepare the ritual.

Yeah, it definitely wasn't easy, but with Salazar's help, who explained everything that I couldn't understand, I was mostly done with the preparations. Well, the ancient wizard also showed me a spell that could create an illusion over the ritual book so no one would ask me what I was reading. A very useful piece of magic, I was quite sure that without it I wouldn't be able to accomplish my goal.

Finally tomorrow, the winter break would begin and two days later I would perform my first ritual. I really hoped that it would work.

I really wanted to go back to the mundane world, but I didn't want to waste my opportunity and I still didn't possess the ability to apparate. It was definitely something that I needed to learn as fast as I could.

After all, it was only now that I realized how closed off from the rest of the world I was in Hogwart. I had no methods of finding out what was going on around the world and it really troubled me. I needed to know if something important happened.

That unfortunately created problem that I didn't know how to deal with yet. I knew that wizards found some ways to make the smallest pieces of electronic work in magical areas, but it wasn't enough for me. Even if I learned how to apparate, I wouldn't be able to use this ability as I still had the trace on me.

Salazar thought that he would have an idea of how to deal with the trace problem after we completed the ritual, but he also told me that it wouldn't work for teleportation. So, for now, I was pretty much out of ideas on how to deal with it, and unfortunately, I didn't have enough time nowadays to think of a solution.

Still, my talk about the trace with Slytherin finally showed how exactly wizards were able to use magic.

According to Salazar, one of the other funders, Helga Hufflepuff, was also interested in what made wizards and witches special. What was different about them that we could perform magical feats that normal humans could only dream of.

It took the female funder a few decades to discover the secret to magic and even then she wasn't sure about her theory.

I already knew that magic was both in my body and around me. What I didn't know was how those two worked together. Apparently there was no such thing as a magical core and instead, our whole bodies or souls - Hufflepuff wasn't sure which one was it - were capable of storing the magic that flowed around the world.

So even though witches and wizards didn't produce their own magic, we were still able to store it and then manipulate it with our wills. This at least explained why some people were more powerful than others and why you got tired after using too much magic. After all, not everyone could store the same amount of magic and absorb it at the same frequency as different people.

Of course, there were types of magical arts that manipulated the magic of the world, but even then a small amount of internal magic was used. It was very confusing.

There was a lot more to the subject that Helga discovered, but even Sazalar didn't memorize all of it. Apparently the ancient wizard decided that it wasn't too important if the wizarding world lived without such knowledge for years and survived.

I didn't know if I agreed with him, but he was the more experienced wizard here, so for now I would go along with it. Slytherin promised me that even though rituals used both internal and external magic, I didn't need perfect knowledge of how magic worked to use them.

Oh well, it was not like I could argue with him on this. Hell, I didn't know if the ancient wizard wasn't making the whole story about Hufflepuff up. It wouldn't really surprise me, the old wizard had a very particular sense of humor...

I sighed and finally banished those thoughts from my mind. They were only taking me away from my studying, I needed to figure out a few more details of the ritual. The ingredients were ready - apparently, it wasn't that hard to steal them from other students or Snape's cabinet - and now I only needed to complete a few more runes.

The ritual book only had a small introduction to runes, so I was pretty much working without any knowledge on the subject. At least Salazar knew that there was no chance for me to master something so hard and began helping.

At least I would have time to study them after I was done with this shit...

"Logan, do you mind if I sit down here?" a familiar voice asked and I cursed myself for not paying attention to my surroundings. I was definitely ranting too much in my mind lately, but I blamed it on the low amounts of sleep I was getting to work on the ritual.

I finally looked up from my book and saw the small Harry Potter standing there with a book in his hands.

"Suit yourself," I said politely motioning to the empty seat.

The boy nodded in thanks and quickly sat down. I was a bit surprised that he was alone, but I didn't really care what the Golden Trio did with their lives as long as it wouldn't mess my plans.

Still, I was a bit curious why he even was in the library, "So what are you reading there? The term is pretty much over and not to be rude, but I didn't take you for someone who would study if he didn't need to."

Harry froze for a second and I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the reaction. Was the Golden Trio already messing with something they shouldn't?

"It is nothing really," the boy tried to play it off, "I was just curious about something I read on Chocolate Frog Card."

Wait. The months went by so quickly that I almost forgot about the Philosopher's stone. Huh... and the kids were already investigating it. Well, let's find out what they already knew.

"Oh? And what is it? As you can see I spend a lot of time in the library so I might know something," I said casually, not even looking up from my book.

Only after a long moment of silence I looked at Harry and saw that he was very hesitant to answer. Finally, he probably realized that it would be weird not answer to such a simple question.

"Dumbledore's card said something about him working with Nicolas Flamel and I was wondering what is so important about him."

So they were only beginning their investigation. That was good as I really didn't remember the exact timeline from the first book. It had been many years since I read it and most of the fanfictions just skimmed through those events.

I drummed my finger on the table, humming quietly, "Flamel, Flamel. I know that I read somewhere about him, but all that I can remember about him is the fact that he is an alchemist. Nothing else, sorry. Ask some teachers, they probably know more and it will save you the time of looking through tones of books."

With that said, I gathered my things and after a quick goodbye, I walked out of the library. I needed to speak with Salazar about a few things.

* * *

"Are you ready?" Salazar's portrait asked me as I stood in the ritual room of the Chamber of Secrets. He told me to move his frame so he could inspect my preparations and spot any mistakes. It definitely was a good idea as I made a few of them.

"As ready as I will ever be," I responded as I looked at my work.

From what Salazar told me, this chamber was created by him to be used for multiple rituals. The floor in the center was made of a material that absorbed magic and could be easily repaired after the user finished inscribing runes on the floor. Also, the room was protected by more runes so no magic would leave this room. That way no one would know what happened here.

Every rune was connected and after I would prepare the ingredients, they would be filled with magic.

"Then get to it, there's no time to waste. And remember don't fight the magic or it will hurt more than normal," Salazar instructed for the last time as I walked towards the middle of the room where a small crucible, filled with boiling water, waited for me.

With a final sigh, I crouched next to the crucible. After taking a small silver knife in my hand, I made a small cut on one of my fingers and let the blood drip into the water.

"Ten drops of blood to open your body."

It was the only ingredient that didn't require me to steal from other people. The next one was a bit harder to get, but I found it in an abandoned potion kit.

"The hair of the Sphinx will free your mind."

Thankfully from what I found, their hair wasn't rare so no one would miss it. It was the next ingredient that almost stopped my progress.

"And finally Tears of the Phoenix will cleanse your being."

Yeah... It took me two weeks of planning to steal a few drops of the very magical ingredient. Thankfully the amount needed was pretty small so I hoped it would take some time for Snape to notice it missing.

With the ingredients done I stirred the mixed elixir a few times before pouring it into the inscribed runes. It took a moment as I needed to be very careful and not miss even a drop of the potion.

After my task was done, I moved the unneeded items to the side and finally settled myself before two larger runes in the center of the room.

They would activate the ritual after I poured magic into them as Salazar instructed me a few days ago. It would be my next step to obtaining my goal. A goal so far away.

Smiling lightly at the thought I put my hand on the runes and activated the runic circle.

_And with this single action, Pain was the only thing I knew..._


	10. Mystery

It definitely was the most painful thing I had ever gone through. In my old life, I got hurt a lot, be it some random everyday injuries, cuts from some jobs that went wrong, or even a few wounds from bullets. The last category was definitely the most painful, but I was mostly lucky enough to only get shot in places that wouldn't cause too much damage.

With this ritual, it was a lot different. Apart from my entire body burning with pain, I could feel magic screaming in my mind and my soul twisting from whatever the ritual had done. I never thought that you could even experience pain in some of those places, but it looked like magic would never stop surprising me. Still, it would have been fucking nice if Salazar told me that it was so painful.

If only the old snake wasn't a portrait...

Thankfully all of the agonies went away after a few short moments and I fell down on the cold floor with rasping breaths. The chill temperature of the chamber was definitely more welcome than whatever just the ritual did to me.

I didn't know how much time it took me to finally gather my bearings, but when I did, I still felt like I would fall over at any moment.

With shaky steps, I approached the silent portrait of Slytherin, sat down next to it, and leaned against the cool wall. This small action provided me with more comfort than I would ever expect.

"It worked?" I asked simply and thanked anyone who was listening that at least my throat was working as it should.

The portrait was silent for a moment and I was too tired to check what he was doing, "It should. From what I observed everything went without any problem. Now tell me how do you feel?" Salazar asked finally.

How did I feel? Well, that was an excellent question.

I shrugged, "Apart from the remaining pain I mostly feel good, thanks for the warning by the way," I remarked sarcastically. He told me that it would hurt a bit, but nothing like that. Shaking my head I went back on the track, "Definitely tired and my entire body aches, I will probably feel it for a few more days. There is one more thing, but I don't really know how to describe it. It is like I can feel more of my entire being, like something was finally opened inside me. Do you know what I mean?"

"I do," he replied almost instantly, "This ritual was meant to prepare you for other rituals and changes. It opened you to the magic of the world and I am not talking only about your body, but also mind and soul. It didn't make you stronger or smarter, but it opened your being to the world and now you can feel it. It might not change your outlook on the world, but it will definitely let you understand more of yourself."

I groaned lightly, "And here I thought that it couldn't get more complicated."

The ancient wizard instantly fired back, "And I thought I was working with an adult in the body of a child not the opposite, so don't whine."

I was too tired to come back with some intelligent response so I would let him have this round. At least the guy wasn't boring, definitely not what I had expected from one of the founders.

"So what now?" I asked, "With this out of the way, we can move onto more rituals, yes?"

"That will need to wait a bit. We rushed your ritualistic knowledge because you didn't want to wait another year to go through this. I could accept that, but now that we don't have any deadline, you will learn all the basics perfectly, and only then we will move onto more advanced things. Trust me what you just did was very easy. I created this ritual so it could be performed without years of studying. Any strengthening rituals will require more advanced knowledge and ingredients. Besides your whole being will need a month or two to adapt to the changes my ritual caused," Slytherin explained in detail.

"So I am back to square one, but now I just can continue with my normal studies?" I asked slightly disappointed even though I understood the reasons.

"Of course not!" Salazar almost shouted, "Yes you will continue with both ritual studies and schoolwork but remember now that we don't have a deadline, I can help you with other things. You didn't think that the great Salazar Slytherin only knew how to create rituals, did you?"

I sighed deeply trying to no let my annoyance show itself, "Of course not..."

"Good. I have much to show if the student isn't an idiot," I got the feeling that he was talking about my 'father', but I didn't really have any reason to defend Voldemort so I just let him talk, "I was always more interested with more delicate arts of magic, but I am sure you will find some use for them," he then paused for a moment like he was thinking about something, "But before we move onto what I can teach you, I want to finally know what are your plans regarding the Philosopher's Stone. None of my descendants ever spoke of it and I really want to see what it can exactly do."

Right... With so much shit going on lately I only skimmed through the events that would be happening in Hogwarts when I was explaining everything to Salazar. He asked me a few more times about the subject already, but I only gave him vague answers as I was busy with the preparations for the ritual.

It was probably a good time as any to finally talk about some of my plans in detail. I wasn't moving from my position in the nearest future anyway...

* * *

The rest of the winter break went without a hitch, I mostly focused back on normal studies and tried to perfect everything that I already knew about rituals. Salazar explained that while he could fight pretty well in his prime and could teach me a few things, fighting wasn't something that he really enjoyed. Like he told me after the ritual he was more interested in the more delicate arts of magic.

Runes, rituals, mind arts, warding, and some potions.

I was a bit surprised that he wasn't a master Potioner, but I guessed that fanon was again affecting my judgment. Still, almost everything that Slytherin could teach me would be useful - I wasn't really interested in potion making, but the ancient wizard said that some elixirs would be required for rituals.

Warding I needed to learn as according to some things I read, it could be one of the possible ways to beat the trace, even if it was only a temporary fix. Besides, with how many things wards could do if one had enough power and time, I was pretty sure that they would come in handy sooner or later.

Mind arts I wanted to learn even before that so no explanation was needed there. I really hoped that having a teacher would speed up my progress.

Rituals I was already learning and runes were so interlaced with the first subject that I needed to learn it either way. At least Slytherin told me that one of his descendants managed to find a new way to use runes and I would be able to use it after I got more experienced and older.

All in all, I had a lot of shit to do, not that I was complaining. After all, power didn't come from sitting around and doing nothing. You needed to work for it and even then it wasn't certain that you would get it. Who knew if I would succeed.

My plans for the Philosopher's Stone were slowly moving forward. I did more scouting of the third corridor to discover if there were any wards that would inform Professors if someone was to cross them. To my surprise, I only found one and after searching through some books and conversing with Salazar, we found a way to get past it without destroying the ward.

It was a bit tricky, but after some practice with a similar ward that I learned to create, I could slip past it unnoticed. The part of the canon where all of the traps were designated for first years was definitely true with how easy it was. No first-year, even one with an adult mind, should be able to enter the room. And the less we talk about the Golden Trio, the better. At least they didn't know about the ward so it was always something.

With this final thought, I focused back on the situation at hand.

I was only eating dinner, but there was something that caught my interest in the two weeks after the winter break finished.

When I came to Hogwarts I tried to find out how many students there were and even try to find out as much about them as I could. I was just curious and I didn't really think that this informations would help me now. To be honest, it was a miracle that I even noticed it when I was casually going through the students during the welcoming feast after Christmas.

After all what normal person besides maybe the Headmaster and Professors did a headcount of all students.

Apparently, I was the person and I found two people missing. At first, I just thought that maybe they just missed the feast and I should just leave the matter alone. In the end, my curiosity won and I did some digging during those two weeks and now I finally have my answers... Well almost as I still didn't know what the hell happened to them.

One of them was a second-year from Gryffindor that I talked with a few times and it was the only reason why I noticed that it was him missing so fast. The second person was a bit harder to find, but due to them being from my year it was still pretty easy. I doubt that I would be able to discover who they were if they weren't from my house or in my age group. It also helped that both of them were muggle-born.

Still, with this discovery, the question remained. Why weren't they in Hogwarts?

I reasoned that maybe the first year's parents decided to take him out from the school, but that still left the second year. Salazar was no help so I just decided to ask someone else. After all, it couldn't be just me who noticed their disappearance, right?

"Hey, do you mind if I ask you something?" I said to a sixth-year girl that was sitting a few seats away from me.

She turned to me with a raised eyebrow, but still nodded with a small smile, "No problem kiddo. What do you need?"

I looked at the plate before me and began explaining, "I know that it might sound weird, but I always liked observing everything around me, including people. So after the winter break, I notice something very weird. One of my classmates from Ravenclaw is missing and if I am not wrong then the same applies to a boy from our house. Do you know what happened to them?"

Yeah, I could have worded it better, but I was a bit frustrated with the lack of any answers so I decided to be blunt about it.

The girl frowned before she scooted a bit closer to me, "I'm surprised you noticed already. While the pure and half-bloods already know about it, usually it takes months for first-years muggle-borns to figure it out if the missing person wasn't from their house or they weren't friends with them. They always go to professors with this, but I guess I could explain, but you still should go and talk with McGonagal about it later."

Alright, that definitely raised even more questions in my mind. I was missing something that was common knowledge to everyone apart from the first-year muggle-borns.

Even then I nodded, "I will, but I really want to know now."

The girl giggled a bit, "Curious little thing, eh? We don't know all the details, but those disappearances happen almost every semester. Sometimes it is one student, sometimes more, but there are rare times that no one is missing. From what I was told, this process began a year after you-know-who was defeated and those who disappear are always muggle-born."

This wasn't something I wanted to find out. But the girl still didn't explain why exactly they disappear. I voiced my question.

"They just disappear. Both students and their families. Not a sign is left after them. If the ministry found out what happened to them, they are definitely keeping this information to themselves," she explained

My eyebrows raised at the incredulity of this situation, "And no one ever tried to find them? Tracking or even protecting them? Maybe wards? Anything?"

I was probably showing that I had more knowledge than I should have about magic, but if the girl noticed she just ignored the fact and began answering my questions, "They did. Mother said that even Dumbledore was trying to help them, but it never worked. Whoever is responsible for those disappearances is very good. Unfortunately, with time everyone accepted that it just happens even if they are still trying to help. Most of the wizarding world tries to ignore this subject, an unofficial taboo if you wanted to name it."

Damn, the wizarding world was even more fucked up than I thought. Magical children and their families just disappear without a sign and they just accept it.

Now I would probably just join them in ignoring this and continue with my plans as it wasn't really my problem, but to everyone, I was fucking muggle-born. This could become a problem if there really was something targeting people like me. And here I thought my life couldn't get more complicated...

Still, there was one more thing I needed to know.

"And no one thought it would be important to tell muggle-borns and their families that they are in danger after joining the wizarding world?" It was a completely understandable question as Dumbledore definitely didn't mention any disappearances in our talk.

The girl shrugged, "I don't know. As I said, I only know as much as my parents were willing to tell me. I only know the general picture, you would be better off asking McGonagal. Now I need to go kiddo. I have a class in a few minutes," With that, the girl stood up and walked away.

I could go to McGonagal and find out more, but I wanted to keep my interactions with professors minimal. Attention wasn't something that I wanted and I could find out more on my own.

I really wanted to know who could be responsible, but with the HP and MCU blended into one universe, the list of suspects was pretty big. It was definitely the work of someone who could use magic if some of the families were really taken even after magical protections were used. Even then this fact didn't make the list smaller, after all, I didn't doubt that wizards and witches could work with organizations from MCU.

I really doubted that the higher-ups didn't know anything, but I couldn't expect a schoolgirl to know things like that.

_Yeah, there was no way I was finding anything while I was in Hogwarts..._

* * *

The following months didn't help my new problem at all. The only additional info I found was the fact that the oldest kid to ever disappear was in their third year. Not really helpful, but good to know anyway. At least I would be safe if I survived that long.

Salazar had no clue how to help me, but he agreed that it was probably a work of wizards or witches. This fact only made us work harder to find a way for me to use magic outside the school without alerting anyone. For now, we prepared a small wardstone, that Salazar had stored in his office. It would be able to contain any magic from getting out and should stop the trace.

It was similar to the wards placed around the ritual room but on a much smaller scale. At best it would be able to shield a room bit bigger than I had at the Children's Home. The problem with this method was that once the wardstone was activated I couldn't move it or the wards would destabilize. Of course, I could deactivate it and then move it, but that would be a pain in the ass to do every time I wanted to move.

The one thing we managed to discover - or more like I performed some spells Salazar taught me and then he had a look at the results - was the fact that the trace was bound to me and not my wand or anything else.

It was some sort of enchantment that was put on me after I arrived at Hogwarts. Salazar didn't find much more than that, but he was sure that now we could at least try to find out a way to break it without anyone noticing. It was a work in progress, but we already had some basics ideas.

Apart from that, I was progressing quite nicely with my studies. I even managed to perform another ritual about two months after the first one.

It was pretty simple as it only sharpened some of my senses. Better vision, hearing, sense of smell. Unfortunately, I didn't gain night vision but I was happy with what I had. It definitely helped me with paying attention to my surroundings and noticing things that would normally escape me.

To be honest, I wanted to perform other rituals, but Slytherin told me that it was better to start small. Besides we had no way of getting ingredients for the more advanced rituals, they were beyond even Snapes' inventory. At least we had already planned some of the next rituals that I could perform with what I had available to me.

Getting used to my new senses wasn't that hard, but it was getting more and more frustrating to sleep in a room full of snorting children. Thankfully silencing spells were very useful in those moments. Now if they could only stay activated for more than two or three hours I would be happy.

Really, if it wasn't for the mystery disappearances I would be pretty happy with my life.

After all, it was finally time to go after the Philosopher's Stone. I had been preparing myself for those past few weeks just for this moment and I wouldn't fail now.

I visited the third corridor a few more times and even went through the trap door a few times. From my knowledge of the canon, I knew that soon Quirell would go after the stone and I needed to time it perfectly if I wanted to avoid any possible suspicions.

"Ready?" Salazar's voice brought me out of my thoughts.

"I better be, I got only one shot at this," I replied shortly and began walking to the exit from the chamber.

It was time to see if my experiences from my old life and preparations in this one would help me today.


	11. What you desire the most

It was very hard to find the perfect day for my final trip to the third corridor. After all, I needed to do this before Quirell tried to go after the Philosopher's Stone, but also chose a moment in which no one would ever notice that something was wrong.

If I remember correctly in books and movies it was the day that Dumbledore was out of Hogwarts. Similarly, I tried to wait for this day and use the exact moment I knew the Headmaster left, to make my move. There was just one problem with this idea.

I could miss my opportunity if I waited too long. Then there was the case of being faster than Quirell, but I could deal with that. I was prepared and had knowledge of every trap in the corridor, so I was pretty sure I could deal with everything faster.

Now with the end of the school year just around the corner, I knew I had no more time to waste. Thankfully yesterday I overheard two professors talking when I was coming back after the curfew from the Chamber of Secrets.

Apparently, there was some kind of problem in the Ministry of Magic and Dumbledore would be out of the caste for the whole day tomorrow.

I was obviously in luck and that was why after I came back to my dorms, I went to 'sleep' and waited for everyone to hit the sack. After that, I quietly slid from the Gryffindor Tower and went back to the Chamber of Secrets to inform Salazar of the new plan. I also confirmed the teachers' conversations during breakfast where Dumbledore was already missing.

And here I was standing before the entrance to the third corridor, exactly after the history exam. I remembered from the canon that Quirell and Golden Trio went after the stone in the evening, so I had about one hour to find the stone and get out. If it even was the same day that they went down there, unfortunately, I couldn't remember the day when it all happened in canon, only some of the timeframe.

I was wearing darker clothes that no one ever saw on my person, it was one of my ideas of how to dodge any suspicion if I was seen by anyone. The next one was a potion that I made with the help of Salazar. I really doubt that I could have brewed it without him.

It was already familiar to me as it was used by the twins during the Goblet of Fire. The aging potion.

It gave me the appearance of an older teenager and I already had the antidote ready for me in the Chamber. After all, I needed to do this quickly and go back to the Gryffindor common room as soon as I could.

I drank it in the chamber as I needed to transfigurate my clothes before going as unfortunately I wasn't skilled to do it in a few seconds. The worst part of all of this was that I still felt the foul taste in my mouth after the potion. Really, it was kind of sad that almost every potion I tried tasted terrible.

With a sigh, I finally opened the door in the corridor and passed the ward just like I practiced. I really hoped that I wouldn't find any new surprises that weren't there just a few days ago.

With practiced ease, I did the same thing that Quirell did and used a transfigurated instrument to make the big Cerberus fall asleep. Of course, the spells to animate an instrument to play weren't easy, but when you had a few months to practice, you could basically achieve anything. I already tested this method before and I was still wondering how something that dangerous could have such a weird weakness.

Not that I minded as it made my mission easier.

It only took a few seconds before the large dog laid down on the floor and fell asleep. This time I was lucky as the Cerberus didn't put his paw on the trapdoor so I didn't need to risk anything while getting inside.

With a flick of my hand, the trapdoor opened and I was greeted with the large Devil's Snare that was probably the easiest of the obstacles to pass.

I summoned a very bright ball of light in my hand and slowly descended down while the plant remained unmoving. I really wondered if the professors passed through it every time when they needed to check on the Underground Chambers. I didn't find any secret passage, but maybe it was just hidden very well.

Now onto the next obstacle, the winged keys prepared by Filius Flitwick. Surprisingly this was the best obstacle out of them all... Well as long as you weren't a NEWT student or natural seeker like Harry.

I was neither of them, but again I had months to prepare. The closed doors were heavily enchanted and there was no way for me to open it with brute force or unlocking spells. Okay, maybe I could do it with brute force, but I wanted to do this covertly without leaving any signs that I was here.

I could also take the old broom and try to catch the correct key...

Yeah, I also tried that and it appeared that I didn't have any skill with a broom. I only ended up with a few bruises after my first try and wisely decided to never do it again. I was okay with casual flying, but chasing after a small object was beyond me.

That was why I found a spell in one of the books in the library to fix my problem.

A very simple wide-area stunning charm.

Well, maybe not that simple as it required a lot of power and focus. Power that I thankfully had, but if I attempted the spell more than three times, I would get tired very fast. At least I got enough practice to perform the spell silently.

This time I drew my wand and performed the required wand movement. I didn't want to waste more time to practice, so for now I would need to use them.

The spell worked just like I practiced and all of the keys fell on the floor. From there I searched for the correct one and used it to open the doors. As I said, this obstacle was probably the hardest one, but if one already knew what it was, then they wouldn't have a problem beating it.

After passing through the massive doors, I emerged in another room that housed the giant chessboard we all knew and loved... Yeah, not really. For someone as intelligent as McGonagall, she didn't think her obstacle through.

After all, there was no door or secret passage that needed to be opened via beating the chessboard. No, one could simply pass it and go to the next room without almost any problems if they weren't complete morons.

While the chessboard spanned through the entire width of the room and the animated chess pieces would stop me if I tried to just pass by them on the ground. They would do nothing if I tried to fly above them. Oh well, no human was perfect, and even McGonagal could have missed such a simple detail.

For this, I prepared my own broom or rather borrowed one from Filch's storage. The man had a lot of interesting things in his room, unfortunately, the Marauder's map was already taken by the twins - probably. For now, I couldn't be bothered to steal it from them. I had the founder of Hogwarts that knew almost every secret passage and while the function to know where everyone was would be helpful in this situation, I could work without it.

Besides, it was not like I could get a drop on the two Weasleys like some of the characters did in fanfiction. From what I observed before abandoning my idea to steal the map, Fred and George were always careful with their actions and I never even saw them using the map.

Meh, I could try in the future when I had a good plan. Now it was time to pass through Snape's obstacle, as I already flew past the trolls. Only this time I used every concealing spell I learned so the beasts wouldn't try to follow me by the scent.

And so upon entering the next chamber, my passage was blocked by purple flames. Now here I could go with the canon route and drink the correct potion or again use a spell that I learned just for this occasion. It wasn't that hard to learn and from what I found it was something taught in the sixth year charms. I could also safely bet that this was the spell Quirell used to pass the flames without even sparing Snape's riddle a look.

The spell's name? Flame-Freezing charm.

Yeah, even I was surprised that it worked on those weird purple flames. Like always I learned how to perform it silently, but using it wandlessly and without wand movements still beyond me. Really ever since I began using my wand, every spell was getting harder and harder to learn wandlessly. Salazar said that my being was getting too used to performing magic with a focus and only more practice without a wand would fix it.

Again I performed the spell and safely walked through the affected flames. They no longer burned, but now I could only feel some pleasant sensation just like a warm summer breeze. Such a useful spell, it definitely helped during the witch-hunts when mundanes tried to burn magicals on stakes.

Shaking my head I put those thoughts for later. Already ten minutes passed and I still had to deal with the last obstacle.

And lo and behold, here it was, the fabled Mirror of Erised or more simply Mirror of Desire. Really I had no idea what was the purpose of turning its name backward. I would never understand all the quirks of the wizarding world...

To be honest, the mirror didn't look special, but I should have expected that. After all, in the wizarding world, nothing worked like it was supposed to.

Now it was time to get to work.

I never really went into this room, because I feared that if there were some wards that I could discover, then they would instantly notice Dumbledore to my presence. Now that Dumbledore was out of the way I could at least try without the fear of him running in here wands blazing.

First I cast every spell that Salazar and I found to search for any wards that could be laid around the room.

The results were definitely interesting.

While the room itself wasn't warded in the slightest, the mirror was a completely different case. There were so many different enchantments and wards around this thing that it would take me years to even figure out how they worked.

I suspected that most of those things were probably part of the mirror while the rest was added by Dumbledore. Was I right? Who knew and it wasn't really that important.

The important thing was that as soon as I found the stone, I was getting the hell out of here. There was definitely something that would activate with the removal of the stone and if I timed everything right then all the blame would fall on Voldemort who would be coming here not that long after I finished.

"Alright, let's get this over with," I murmured and stood before the mirror.

I waited for the image to appear in the reflection and raised an eyebrow when it finally did. The mirror was supposed to show the deepest desire of our hearts and this didn't really look like it.

The mirror showed me - obviously - in an adult form. I was wearing pretty casual clothes with a long dark brown trench coat over it. My face was matured and my hair was still kept short. The only things that caught my interest were the glimpse of some runes on my hand and a small smirk on my face.

Apart from that, my older self was standing in space? Yeah, it looked like it, the stars in the background and lack of any floor definitely confirmed that. There were also some weird blurred pictures in the background that I couldn't recognize.

Still, there was one more thing that caught my interest, a blurred person - or at least I thought it was a person, the limited vision didn't help - was standing a few feet away from me.

I had no clue what it was supposed to mean, but it could either be some mistake created by the mirror or some kind of my desire that I didn't even know about. Humans could desire a wide range of things and some went through their lives without realizing what they truly needed. It was just basic human nature and I couldn't say that I wasn't one of them.

I snorted at the thought, before turning back to my reflection. I wasn't here to think of philosophy, but to find the stone.

The moment the thought went through my head, my older self smirked wider and raised his empty hand. He then clenched it tightly and I instantly felt something change when he opened it again to show the red Philosopher's stone in all its glory.

With no small amount of shock, I looked down on my left hand that was clenched just a few seconds ago, and just like my mirror self, I opened it to find the stone waiting there.

Was it really that easy? Wasn't the mirror supposed to stop people who wanted to use the stone?

...Right, I didn't want to use it, not now at least. Not really. Ever since I came to this universe I wanted the stone just because. Yeah, it would certainly be useful, but I had no grand plan on how to use it as I never really knew if I would be able to get it and it really worked.

The mirror might have ignored my small want to use it and focused on the desire to find it. After all, it was a mirror of desire and this whole mission was about _finding_ the stone.

"Fuck, and here I thought I would need to try hard to remove you," I then shook my head, "Really, I will never understand how the wizarding world works."

Without any further ado, I again activate my concealment pack and ran back through the still charmed flames. I passed the trolls and chessboard just like I did previously and finally arrived back at Flitwick's obstacle.

There I quickly closed the door and woke up with all the keys.

With everything taken care of, I climbed back through the Devil's Snare and arrived back in the third corridor where Fluffy was still sleeping. A sense of accomplishment filled me when I realized that everything went according to plan. Well, mostly, I thought I would need more time to get the stone out of the mirror.

So it was with a grin that I left the third floor and went back to the Chamber of Secrets to hide the stone and take the antidote.

Now, I just needed to wait and find out if the rest of the events went similarly to the canon. And with me living in the same dorm as Harry Potter, it wouldn't be a problem.

If that didn't work?

Well, Dumbledore almost revealed what happened during the End-of-Term Feast by giving points to the Golden Trio and Neville.

* * *

"Please sit down Minerva," Albus said in a tired tone.

"Is something wrong? I know that the whole fiasco with Quirrel and you-know-who was a surprise, but it all ended well if you consider who was the person who stopped him," Minerva said after she sat down and looked at the headmaster in worry.

"I can't argue with that. Unfortunately, just a few minutes ago I came back from my investigation of the whole underground chambers and found something very disconcerting," Dumbledore responded finishing with a long sigh.

McGonagall didn't ask the question, but the slightly raised eyebrow was enough to make Albus continue.

"It is the stone, Minerva. It is no longer in the Mirror," he stated simply.

The stern professor gasped, "How? From what I know Quirell couldn't take it and Mr. Potter didn't have it on him. The boy even told you that he never saw it during his confrontation with you-know-who."

Dumbledore shook his head lightly, "I am not sure. The only reason I knew to come back to Hogwarts because the stone was removed and Mr. Potter and his friends passed through the ward at the entrance to the Corridor. I thought that Voldemort somehow found a way to extract it and then it was destroyed during his confrontation with Harry. But after speaking with the boy and doing my own investigation, I now know that something went completely wrong.

Of course, the stone still could have been destroyed when Mr. Potter arrived, but I searched for any remains of it and I didn't find anything. An artifact like this would leave a sign if it was destroyed there. Be it magical signature or even small parts of the stone."

Minerva nodded in understanding, as it all made sense, "Do you think it could be someone else?"

"It is a possibility," he replied while dragging a hand through his long beard, "There are many scenarios of what could have happened there, but in the end, I have no way of finding which one is true. I will go back there to try to find some clues, but I fear that the Philosopher's stone is truly lost. I placed a tracking charm on it, but when I came back to my office to check where it was, I found the charm removed or destroyed along with the stone. It was a mistake to use it as a bait for Voldemort..."

McGonagall took a few deep breaths to calm herself, "You knew my opinion on this Albus and you still went with it," her tone was calm, but Dumbledore could hear the hidden anger in it, "Unfortunately now we can only try to recover it as fast as we can. I am more concerned about the Flamel pair, what will they do without it?"

"They don't need it, Minerva. If they did then Nicholas wouldn't ever give it to me. He and Perenelle decided a few years back, that they had enough of this prolonged life and wanted to finally see what was waiting for them on the other side. They gave me the stone because I was the only person Nicholas trusted as he knew I never wanted it. I was supposed to protect it, but it seems my life is full of mistakes," he was so tired of all this.

"Stop Dumbledore," the Head of Gryffindor snapped at her old friend, "Yes, you made a lot of mistakes, but you need to remember all the things you did for our world. Without you, the British wizarding world would be in a darker place now, hell, all the world would be. You are always the one saying about forgiveness... Maybe it is time to finally learn how to forgive yourself."

With that McGonagall quickly left the office. Dumbledore needed to think about it alone, and her presence would only disturb him.

Albus sat there, slightly shocked that even after all these years, there was still someone who could scold him so easily. Still, he knew that what Minerva said was true, but it was easier said than done.

"But I will try, my dear friend," he spoke quietly listening to Fawkes' calming song, "I will try."


	12. The Calm

"Are you sure that you removed every tracking charm?" Salazar asked probably for the fifth time in the last hour. I wasn't going to lie that it was getting pretty annoying.

I breathed deeply to calm my nerves and answered slowly, "Yes Salazar, I am sure. If I didn't then we would have Dumbledore already knocking at our doors. He obviously didn't expect anyone to know some of the rarer charms he used. I am really glad that your previous heirs updated your library."

It definitely would have been a problem if I stole the stone, only for Dumbledore to track it to me. Thankfully Salazar's library was full of all sorts of books so it wasn't a problem to find every possible tracking charm and its counter that was created in the last few centuries. It took time to learn them all, but in the end, it was all worth it.

"There was still quite a large gap in time where no one updated anything here. I very much doubt that Voldemort left any new books here," here Salazar was right, but I also had access to Hogwart's library and surprisingly information about tracking charms and their removal wasn't in the restricted section.

"Oh well, it all went without a hitch, there is no reason to argue about it," the old wizard nodded in agreement so I continued, "Now we need to figure out what to do with the stone. We know that it can change metal into pure gold and create Elixir of Life... While I will definitely use the first option a few times, we have no clue how exactly the Elixir works. Any ideas?"

Silence fell upon the small room. While we talked a few times about what I planned to do with the stone, those conversations never went too far. Now it was finally time to get this out of the way and move onto more important things.

Really, during the first year, I planned to progress at least to the beginning of fourth year material in the most important subjects. Unfortunately, thanks to the shit with Philosopher's stone and rituals, I was far away from my goal and I really hoped to fix it during the next school year. There was also the problem of practicing my wandless magic so it wouldn't die out.

My summer and second year would definitely be busy. I just hoped that I could deal with Voldemort's Dairy before it became a problem.

"There are multiple rituals, potions, or even spells that could help us with discovering the secrets of the Stone," Salazar said suddenly, "We won't be able to use them now. I very much doubt that Hogwarts has half of the required ingredients, besides someone would finally notice if you stole so much of them. The spells you can probably master given time, so you will need to research them before leaving Hogwarts."

"That's fine," I responded quickly, "I will need to find someone who would buy pure gold from me, so it's gonna take a bit of time. No money, no ingredients. I could ask goblins, but their reaction is something I cannot predict."

"They will buy it," Salazar reassured, "They won't even ask any questions as quite frankly they don't care if you can provide them with gold. The problem is with the price. You are a child and they will definitely use it to get a better deal."

"There is not much I can do about that and if I try to sell the gold in Knockturn or any other shop then the deal won't be much better and they will definitely ask questions I can't answer. I will just sell it to goblins and use the gold I get from my high marks in school. It should be enough to buy what I need and I have one more idea I need to try before leaving Hogwarts," I explained after a bit of thought.

"What about muggles?" the old wizard asked out of the blue.

"You want me to sell the gold to mundanes?" at his nod I shook my head, "No. Definitely no. While I could get away with selling a bit of gold if I took an aging potion or used some mind magic on the trader, it would still be risky in the long run. I told you about SHIELD and if they notice an unknown person selling gold then they will definitely investigate. I doubt they don't have any magicals in their ranks and with my current abilities in mind magic, I will be easily discovered by someone more experienced."

Salazar sighed in his frame, "I completely forgot about them... It is still a bit new for me."

"Understandable," I assured the old wizard, "It is a shame that my talent lies more in defensive mind arts than offensive."

The portrait snorted, "I never had a descendant that was so useless with legilimency and offensive mind spells. I still wonder how you even managed to access the surface thoughts of muggles."

I instantly glared at Salazar's smirking face, "Rub it in, why don't you. I can't be talented with every art of magic in the world. I am good, but not perfect. Besides, you told me that with time I would get better. Very slowly, but still better."

It was one of the things we discovered when Salazar finally began to instruct me in proper occlumency, legilimency, and some mind spells.

Occlumency was quite easy for me and my mind was finally at peace after a few lessons with Slytherin. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for the offensive part of mind arts. I struggled very hard to even master the basics of legilimency and mind-altering spells didn't really work for me. I tried to perform the confundus charm, but it didn't really work as it should.

Salazar explained that I would never be good at the offensive mind arts, but I could still get better with practice. That was enough for me, I didn't need to be a master of every magic in the world.

Finally, Salazar's chuckle brought me back to our conversation, "I know. I just like to see your reaction when I mention legilimency... Now tell me, do you have any plans left for the last few days of school and summer?"

I shrugged, "Apart from a quick visit to the Room of Requirements? Not really. During the summer I will just catch up to what I missed in the mundane world and use the wardstone we created to practice some more casual magic."

Salazar nodded, "Plain and simple. Also if you find a good way of transport then try to visit. It would be a waste if you didn't perform at least one ritual during those few months."

I frowned slightly, "I am not sure about constant visits, but I am pretty sure that I could find a way to come here once or twice. Do you have a ritual in mind?"

"I do," he replied, "It is pretty simple, but it will definitely make other rituals regarding the body easier and give you a nice benefit. Now go, you have been here for more than an hour and there isn't much more we can do. Tomorrow I will tell you what we need and what to study for the next ritual."

I nodded and made my way out of the Chamber of Secrets.

* * *

The Room of Requirements.

According to Salazar, it was created by Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff when they got bored with their private projects. It took them about ten years to finish it and was probably the most magically advanced room in Hogwarts, if not the whole world. It could provide the user with almost anything as long as it didn't break the basic laws of magic.

It was a room that fanfiction authors mentioned in almost every story and they always worked differently. Today I came here to test those theories and see for myself what the room was really capable of.

"Let's see what you can do," I murmured as I stood in the large empty hall created by the RoR.

First, I began with some simple things, like adding some furniture or doing basic changes to the hall's layout. Unsurprisingly the room listened and changed just like I wished.

Next, I moved onto books and tools that could be of use to me later on and the room again proved its usefulness by summoning multiple shelves of books and things I couldn't even recognize.

For the next hour, I continued my experiments and found out that most of the things I read about were true. Still, there was something I wanted to test. Something that was used a lot and would definitely help me in combat training even if I really doubted it would work. The room was an incredible piece of magic, but I didn't think that it was created for something like that.

The creation of dummies or any kind of enemies that would fight against me.

The room knew what I wanted, but all it could summon were unmoving wooden dummies or stone soldiers. Disappointing, but expected. It would be too easy if I just had an unlimited supply of foes to train with...

Oh well, I was sure I could think of something else to help me later on.

Now there was one last thing I wanted to do with the Room of Requirements or rather the room of hidden things. To access it I needed to summon the entire room one more time after stepping out of it. I didn't know why I couldn't just summon it from the inside and I didn't really care to find out.

When I finally entered the room full of random things, I began my long search for money. That was right, I planned to gather at least some cash from this room. After all, people lose things all the time and I really hoped that among those lost things I would find some galleons.

Thankfully I was right and after about three hours of searching, I was richer by at least forty galleons and a few sickles and knuts. Not bad for my first run and I definitely planned to come back here to both gather more money and browse through the books that were abandoned here.

With a small smile on my face, I left the room and began walking back towards the Gryffindor Tower. It was getting pretty late and all of this searching tired me a bit. Besides tomorrow I would be finally going back to the Children's Home. Having a room all to myself would be godsent after almost a year of living in a dormitory with eleven-year-old boys...

Just as I wanted to give the password to the Fat Lady, I heard someone calling out my name behind me, "Mr. Hunt, please wait a moment."

Turning around, I saw the Head of Gryffindor House, calmly walking towards me. That was a bit of a surprise, I didn't think that that was anything McGonagall could want from me, but I still asked politely, "Professor, am I in trouble?"

"Nothing like that Mr. Hunt," she replied after arriving next to me, "The Headmaster wishes to speak with you. If you could follow me."

She didn't give me any time to answer and just began walking away. I quickly caught up to the older woman and wondered what Dumbledore could want from me.

It could be about the whole fiasco with Philosopher's Stone, but I really doubted that they even suspected me. Oh, I knew that Dumbledore probably already knew that it wasn't Voldemort's work, but to suspect me? Yeah, that wasn't going to happen.

Unfortunately, I couldn't come up with an idea so I could only silently follow McGonagall and hope that it wasn't anything too important and maybe Dumbledore just wanted to check on the son of his biggest enemy.

_"That sounds about right. He is probably curious how I am adapting to the new world, but waited until the end of the year to finally approach me. After all, I am just a muggle-born to everyone so it would be weird if the Headmaster took an unnatural interest in me,"_ I mused.

Finally, we arrived before the gargoyle that guarded the entrance to the Headmaster's office. McGonagall gave it a really weird password and the entrance appeared before our eyes.

The transfiguration professor then led me through the short corridor where the final door waited. Without any further ado, McGonagall pushed the door open and for the first time in my life, I found myself in the Headmaster's office.

It was a large circular room with many windows and many portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses. There were also a few shelves with books and various magical trinkets that I remembered from canon. There was also a large perch for a bird, but it was unfortunately empty. Damn, I really wanted to see a phoenix for myself. Oh well, maybe next time...

The last part of the room was of course the headmaster's desk with Dumbledore himself sitting behind it.

"Thank you for bringing Mr. Hunt here Minerva," the old headmaster said kindly, "You can go now. I won't hold your pupil here for too long and he should be back before the curfew."

McGonagall only nodded and left the room as quickly as she entered it. I also relaxed slightly as Dumbledore's single sentence made me realize that he definitely didn't know about my role in the theft of the Philosopher's stone.

So he was just doing a standard check-up. Good.

"Please sit down," Dumbledore said motioning to the seat across him, "I know that I said it wouldn't take long, but I am sure it would be more comfortable than standing during our short talk."

I didn't have any problem with that, so I nodded politely and took a seat, "Excuse my Headmaster, but why did you want to see me? Professor McGonagall wasn't too forthcoming with the information."

Dumbledore chuckled lightly, "You'll need to forgive Professor McGonagall. With the end of the year coming, she is a very busy woman. As to the reason I called you here... I have a conversation about this subject with every first year that lives with a muggle family."

Suddenly I knew what he was talking about and couldn't stop myself from blurting out, "It is about the disappearances, isn't it?"

Dumbledore's eyebrows raised a bit, but after a moment he nodded, "I shouldn't be surprised you figured this out by yourself. Most of the professors have a very high opinion about you Mr. Hunt and I can slowly see why."

I smiled a bit a the praise but remained silent so Dumbledore could continue, "As you probably found out, the disappearances are something that the wizarding world prefers to not speak of. It is understandable, but I wanted you to know that even after all those years we are still trying to prevent those things from happening and trying to find those who disappeared. And that's why you are here today, Mr. Hunt."

I nodded in understanding even if Dumbledore's vague style of speaking didn't explain much of the situation. Still, I wanted to know how it all would go down and I probably wouldn't get a straight answer if I didn't ask for it.

"I will get some kind of protection headmaster?"

"You will," he replied, "I won't bore you with all the details as with your current knowledge you would only understand some bits and pieces, but you can trust me that I and the ministry will do everything we can to make sure you will be safe. We failed enough times..." the last part was said in a whisper, but with my slightly enhanced senses I picked it up.

I really wanted to ask him why I wasn't informed of all of this before coming to Hogwarts, but I felt like it was better to leave this subject alone. Besides, I could do some research on my own.

"Thank you, headmaster. I feel a bit better knowing that someone is trying to protect us," there was not much else to say and I really wanted to finish this conversation fast. I still had some packing to do.

"Don't thank me now child. Leave it for the moment when the protections will save you, even if I pray that you will never need them," he said giving me a sad smile. It was a bit weird that Dumbledore would have a conversation like that with a young child... Right, this talk was probably reserved for parents, but with me being an orphan he still needed to talk about it with me, "Now you better get going. I promised your Head of House that I wouldn't hold you for too long"

I nodded and after I bid the headmaster farewell, I walked back to the Gryffindor Tower.

_"This was one weird conversation..."_

* * *

The End-of-Term Feast went as I expected and just like in canon the Gryffindor House won the House cup. I didn't really care about it, but it at least confirmed what happened in the third corridor after I escaped.

After the Feast, I found an empty compartment in the train so I could catch some sleep after the long night in the Chamber of Secrets. Salazar had a few more things to say and I also used these last hours in the castle to practice some more powerful spells. After all, I wouldn't be able to use them with the small anti Trace wardstone.

When I finally arrived back in the Children's home I only needed to wait one day for Dumbledore to show up with two ministry workers that were responsible for the protection of students during the summer.

They explained that they would be setting up some powerful wards around the Children's Home that would protect me, but also wouldn't hinder the mundanes living inside. I was also given a portkey for emergencies and written permission to use magic if I was attacked. Apart from that, I would be also visited every two days by a ministry worker who would be checking on the wards and my safety.

All in all, I knew that those protections were probably pretty good, but I doubted that they would prove a challenge to anyone who would really want to get in. Maybe I was wrong, but I definitely would be investing in some protection myself. After all, I wasn't some random kid who only knew some basic spells. No, I was a reincarnated survivor that dealt with a lot of bad shit in his past life.

No way in hell that I was going to go down without a fight...


	13. Morals

Summer was really a beautiful time. I finally had a room all to myself and didn't need to listen to the squabbling of a bunch of eleven-year-olds. It got annoying really quickly and even though my use of magic was limited in the Children's Home, the few months of peace were worth it. Besides, it gave me the much needed time to catch up on what was happening in the mundane world during my absence.

Unsurprisingly not that much had happened or I could even say that nothing happened. Tony Stark was still supplying weapons and appeared in news more often than I thought one person could. Banner's situation was a bit harder to dig into as I didn't want to be too obvious in my search. Still from what I gathered, he was spotted somewhere near Japan. What the hell was he doing there, I had no clue.

And that was pretty much it as the rest of the major events probably happened in the shadows and I had no access to such information. After all, it would be a few more years before the MCU started for real. Though I was curious about how my future actions and the addition of the wizarding world would change the future timeline. For now, I didn't really change anything to cause any major changes, but I knew that it wouldn't stay like that for too long.

I had plans and a lot of them could mess up the timeline. Not that I expected for nothing to change, after all only a fool would think that a blend of universes and an addition of an ambitious man wouldn't cause any shifts in the world.

Still, I had a few more years to prepare for anything major to happen. Of course, there was also the war against Voldemort that needed to be dealt with, but I hoped to completely avoid taking part in it.

Harry and his friends managed to defeat Voldemort in the canon, so why would they need my help now. I knew that the whole war could have gone a lot better and probably fewer people would die, but due to my connection to Tom Riddle, it was safer for me to stay away.

It was probably wishful thinking that everything would go as planned, but a man could hope, right?

In the end, I would probably somehow end up in the middle of the war. After all if whoever put me in this universe wanted me to stay away from the wizarding world, they wouldn't put me in the body of Voldemort's son. Instead, I would be a normal mundane in MCU without any knowledge of wizards and witches.

Oh well, there was really no point thinking about this now. Whatever needed to happen would happen and I just would adapt, like I always did.

It was already a few weeks into the Summer and there were still a few things that I needed to do before going back to Hogwarts.

My first task on the list to do during the Summer was to arm myself with a melee weapon of any sort. If I could use magic whenever I wanted, this wouldn't be hard as even with my current skill in mind-altering spells, I should be able to get what I wanted in any shop.

Unfortunately, my anti-trace wardstone needed some time to charge every time I wanted to activate it and I wasn't planning to stand still in a shop for an hour. It was easier to just _borrow_ two kitchen knives from my Children's Home. I would return them one day... probably... not.

I fought with less in my last life so it wasn't _that_ bad, as after all those knives were only for surprise attacks, not straight-up melee combat. And while I would love to have a normal gun, there was no way a twelve-year-old would be able to buy one.

Then for the next two weeks, I just stayed in Children's Home learning more magic under the ward and planning escape routes in case I became a target for the kidnappers. It was quite a boring task, but necessary nonetheless.

Next on my list was a visit to Diagon Alley to both buy my school supplies and visit Gringotts to get rid of my bottomless bag filled with some newly created gold. In the future when I would be able to use my magic freely, I probably would just use disguises and sell the gold to the mundanes all around the world. That way I would definitely be able to get more profit and still avoid any suspicion, but without magic, it wasn't possible.

So for now I would just settle with goblins. Hopefully, the little bastards wouldn't scam me too much...

In the end, I wasn't sure if they did. I just went to the first teller I saw, gave him the bag, and asked for an exchange. The goblin didn't even look surprised and just told me to wait, before coming back with another bag full of Galleons. And just like that my business was done. Really it was the most confusing exchange I had ever done. I knew that goblins didn't care about humans, but I still expected at least one question.

Oh well, not that I was complaining. This whole thing was risky enough and for goblins to just give me what I wanted was pretty nice.

Getting my school supplies was easy enough, though I was still wondering if buying Lockhart's books was a good idea. They weren't that cheap and definitely wouldn't teach me anything. It was just the case of blending in, at least in the beginning. Later on, I might try to remove this idiot from Hogwarts, just to take revenge for making me spend my money on useless shit.

With my school supplies gathered I was left with one last task. Buying all the ingredients Salazar told me about.

Thankfully all of them were available in the shops on Diagon Alley, but the looks I got when I asked for them were pretty uncomfortable. I just told them that I was very good with potions and wanted to practice harder brews. They didn't look convinced, but as long as they got paid, I got what I wanted. I just hoped that Dumbledore had better things to do than spying on me during shopping.

As I dubbed it as my day off from practice, I spent a few more hours in the Alley, browsing through shops and getting something to eat.

All in all, it was a pretty nice day.

* * *

"I didn't expect you back this soon," Salazar stated as I walked into the Chamber through the third and only entrance that led outside the school.

A week had passed since my trip to Diagon Alley and I thought that it was finally the time to visit my only real ally in the world. Besides I wanted to see how hard it would be to even get here...

It wasn't.

I just took the Knight Bus to Hogsmeade - and wasn't that an experience - and then went straight to the Chamber. All of this was done during the night as I didn't want anyone to know about my little trip. Besides, I was pretty sure that I would be back before anyone would think to check on me. The ministry worker already visited today so I had nothing to fear from them.

"I gathered everything you wanted and was getting bored with just staying in the Children's Home," I replied after shrugging.

Salazar hummed, "That's good... Did you encounter any problems? I wasn't sure about the availability of the ingredients in the current times and I definitely didn't know how goblins would treat you for a hundred percent."

"It went just like you said. I gave them the gold and they gave me money. No questions asked, just a simple and very fast exchange. The ingredients are more popular than we thought, but a twelve-year-old buying them still raised a few eyebrows," I answered simply.

"As long as they don't go around talking about you then it should be fine, but in the future, you will need to find another way to gather the ingredients. It is one thing to buy some rarer things once, but make it a habit and people will do more than just look at you funny," Salazar responded after a moment of thought.

I frowned slightly, "If I bought them in Knockturn or any other black market then we can be sure that no one would ask questions, but without magic available o me at all times it wouldn't be safe to go there. I am proud of my abilities from my last life, but they won't help me much in this body or against magic. We need to find a permanent way around the trace."

Salazar nodded in understanding, "You are right... Unfortunately, none of my heirs ever had a problem like yours. Only one of them ever mentioned anything about the Trace and he never tried removing it. It is a shame that Voldemort didn't leave behind his method of removing this pesky charm."

I sighed in defeat, "So you have no idea how to remove it?" I wasn't angry or even sad, but some disappointment definitely seeped into my voice. It would probably take us a lot more time if we would need to create a completely new method of removing the Trace.

Thankfully Salazar shook his head, "I didn't say that. I have one idea that might work."

That instantly caught my attention, "Oh?"

"The cleansing ritual. A very complicated piece of magic. Not because of the ingredients or even the amount of magic needed, but the runes you would need to engrave for it."

That didn't sound so bad, "That's it? I am pretty sure that with enough preparations I could pull it off."

Instantly Salazar exploded in laughter, "Child, you don't know what you are talking about. Comparing to what you have performed until now, it would be like comparing a simple fire summoning spell to Fiendfyre. This ritual is older than even me and was used by the druids of old to cleanse any taints to objects and nature. I have no doubt that you could prepare it, but if you even made one small mistake, the ritual would kill you."

This statement caught me off-guard, "Kill me? You said that ritual just won't work if you make a mistake in the runic matrixes."

Salazar chuckled one more time, "That's the case with my and most recent rituals. They were created in such a way that if something was wrong, they just wouldn't work. Druids never made such fail-safes in their rituals. They were perfectionists," the portrait then sighed, before looking straight at me, "Don't get me wrong you can do it, but it will take a lot of time and there are side-effects."

"Side-effects?" I asked instantly.

Salazar nodded, "This ritual can be used on humans, but it always leaves a sign. It can be a small scar that you will never notice or a complete change to your appearance."

"So it is risky and has potential side-effects that would be really problematic," I said quietly.

"And might not even work for your problem," Salazar added, getting my attention, "While I doubt it, there is a chance the ritual would just ignore the Trace... For now, you should focus on finding another way to get rid of it and if we fail, then we can work on the ritual. For it to work it needs to be performed on the Summer Solstice, so we have time until then. Now tell me, did you find anything about the kidnappings in the muggle world?"

Seeing the offer to change the subject, I took it. All this mess with the Trace was only giving me a headache.

"Not much," I answered with a heavy frown, "A few disappearances every few months are not something that would make everyone notice them. For a small community like the wizarding world it definitely is noticeable, but for mundanes? Not really. There are some sites that talk about mysterious disappearances, but most of them are complete bullshit. I would need more detailed information to find anything more specific..."

"That's a shame," Salazar said with a sigh, "Let's just hope you won't end up as the next victim."

With that said a slightly uncomfortable silence fell upon the room. We were both worried that the kidnappers would come for me next and there was not much we could do about it. Oh, we had ideas, but all of them, in the end, came back to one thing.

The Trace.

There were no words that would describe how much I hated this little piece of magic. It annoyed me to no end and caused problems at every step. The only time I didn't need to worry about it was at Hogwarts, but the moment I went outside, it blocked me at every step. My reincarnation as a wizard was really both a curse and a blessing...

"So about the ritual I was meant to perform during the Summer," I finally said to break the silence.

The older wizard visible sagged in relief at the change of the subject and began explaining, "The strengthening ritual...

* * *

Salazar definitely took enjoyment from my pain.

Just like during my first ritual, the ancient wizard again forgot to mention how painful the new ritual was. Oh, the effects were definitely worth it, but I would destroy the portrait if he forgot about the pain again.

As Salazar said, it was simply called the strengthening ritual. Oh, it didn't give me enhanced strength, but an improved healing factor and a slightly more durable body. Slytherin mentioned that it would be a good introduction to physically enhancing rituals as now my body would be able to handle more improvements.

I once read about it in one of the books that Salazar told me to go through. They described how it was very stupid and dangerous to instantly go from no enhancements to the most powerful rituals that gave you the biggest improvements. Our bodies, souls, or minds weren't prepared for such a sudden change, and in most cases, those who tried such things would die soon after the ritual.

Of course, there were ways to improve fast without the risk of dying, but then you risked your entire being. Voldemort was a perfect example of such a situation. He probably didn't care about the risks of using rituals too often and the creation of Horcruxes definitely didn't help. He was reduced to a snake-like appearance even during the war before he was vanquished by Harry and his mental health also suffered over the years.

Maybe it was for the best as Voldemort wasn't the most intelligent of villans. He wasn't stupid by any means, but there were moments where his decisions were questionable at best and idiotic at worst.

All in all, I was happy with my progress regarding rituals. While I couldn't heal instantly like some of the characters in Marvel, now I could recover a lot faster than any normal human and it was only the beginning.

I didn't test what a more durable body exactly meant yet, but that could wait for when I come back to Hogwarts. For the rest of the Summer, I had a much more important task.

Finding the London Sanctum of the Masters of the Mystic Arts.

After all, they could also use magic, but it was different from what wizards and witches used. Mine and Salazar's hopes were to learn this style of magic that most likely wouldn't alert the Trace. While it wouldn't fix my problems permanently, it would at least grant me the power to defend myself just in case.

I didn't know how I would convince the Masters to teach me, but I could worry about it after finding the place.

London was huge and the movie didn't give too many tips where the Sanctum was exactly. Thankfully in May of this year, Google Maps added the Street View to its option. I never suspected that I would be so happy about this function.

Now a few weeks later and a few days before the beginning of the new school year I finally found it. Thank whoever was listening that the sign was the same on every Sanctum.

Of curse the moment I found it I went there to check for myself - without trying to enter of course - and confirmed that the building definitely wasn't normal. Now I just needed to find a way to convince the Masters...

Yeah, that definitely would be hard, after all, why would they teach someone who wanted power all for himself.

I was so deep in thought that when I entered my room, I instantly went to the window and looked at the road ahead of me while trying to calm myself. It didn't really work until I heard a voice behind me.

"Welcome, Mr. Hunt. It is a nice evening, isn't it?" It _definitely_ was a female and _definitely_ sounded familiar and when I turned around to face the woman I almost had a heart attack.

"Shit," was my simple answer to her welcoming. After all the sight of a bald woman dressed in clothes I instantly recognized said it all. A goddammit Ancient One was in my room drinking goddamn tea!

_Why?! I didn't do anything yet!_


	14. Completely wrong

"Please sit down Mr. Hunt," The Ancient One said calmly motioning to the chair that previously wasn't here, "We have a lot to talk about and I highly doubt that you will be comfortable standing there."

I wanted to argue that I was very much comfortable just standing so I would an easier escape route. Unfortunately, then I realized that it was one of the Masters of Mystic Arts and there was no way for me to escape her. That was why I put a strained smile on my face and sat down, hoping that it wouldn't go as bad as I feared.

"I am sorry miss, but who are you, and how exactly you got into my room?" Play it dumb, pretend you didn't know anything. Probably wouldn't work, but hey no one could blame me for trying.

The Ancient One smiled lightly, "Even though I doubt you don't know the answers to your questions, it would be rude of me to just barge in and don't even introduce myself. I am called the Ancient One and I am here to find out who exactly are you, Mr. Hunt. Tea?"

Well at least she was trying to be polite so maybe I was lucky and I would be able to walk away unharmed. Also, I really wanted to taste that tea if Strange's reaction in the movie was anything to go by.

The woman smiled even wider when I accepted her offer and in the next second, a small table with two cups of tea was standing between us. A neat piece of magic, I wonder how long she practiced this particular trick just to surprise people.

"As the current Sorcerer Supreme, it is my job to assess every possible threat to our world. And you Mr. Hunt son of Voldemort somehow became a risk even if a year ago you were a completely normal wizard. Please tell me how you managed to change your entire destiny and how did you find about the London Sanctum," her voice was always calm and polite, never wavering, but I knew that she really wanted or rather needed to know the answers.

The question was how I should even proceed here. I never prepared for something like that and this was probably a mistake. I should have known that the Ancient One would keep an eye on people trying to approach the Sanctums. I needed more time to think.

"I fear I don't know what do you mean miss," True and untrue as while I knew why she was here, I was curious what she exactly knew about me. How much did the Eye of Agamotto show her? Evidently not everything if she was asking those questions, or was it just a test?

The Ancient One didn't look happy with my answer, but she still continued in a polite tone, "Your people have unlimited potential with your ability to use the absorbed natural power of the universe or magic as you call it. No one else can use it, not even the Masters of Mystic Arts. In the past, I had a few dealings with the natural sorcerers or as you call yourself, wizards, and most of those encounters didn't end well. Over the years I decided to keep an eye on your entire community. I saw how a countless number of Dark Lords or just people carving for power grew and died, never posing a danger to the even more mystical side of our world. When you were born it was no surprise that you would be on my watch list for a few years. The son of Voldemort and one of the darkest witches of the British wizarding world."

I should have expected that... again. After all, she was THE Sorcerer Supreme so she definitely knew about the wizarding world. That she kept an _eye_ on the more dangerous individuals was just one part of her job. The part of how our magic worked was very welcome even if it didn't explain everything, though I was confused about why the Master couldn't use it. Didn't they specialize in using different energies of dimensions?

"Thankfully," she continued breaking me from my thoughts, "You appeared to be a normal boy, that was abandoned by your parents and would live a pretty successful life. As such, I crossed you out of my list. Yet here we are, after you for some reason decided to visit one of the Sanctums. Now I can see only glimpses of your future and none of your past. And with what I saw, you are definitely dangerous Mr. Hunt."

She finished and began to sip her tea, waiting for me to answer the unasked question. Still, I was a bit surprised that she would tell me so much. Hell, she even hinted that she could see into the past and possible futures of a person. Guess that was how she acted when she encountered an unknown.

Unfortunately, I still had no idea what to tell her. I wasn't going to tell her everything about me, Salazar knowing was enough. So again I remained silent as this was one of the situations I didn't have an answer for. Given that I tried to mess with the Masters of Mystic Arts, I probably should have, but maybe I was too excited about the idea of learning their skills.

Finally, after a long moment of silence, the Ancient One sighed and spoke again, "I see that you are not willing to share your secrets, but I can't leave before you at least answer a few of my questions. Tell me, Mr. Hunt, why do you seek power?"

Alright, that was a pretty good way out. I could even tell her the truth as it wasn't something that would give away anything important.

"I want freedom. Freedom from anyone trying to chain me down. Freedom to do as I want and travel the worlds that are waiting out there," A very simplified answer, but that would be all she got from me... for now.

"So you really do know about the multiverse. At this point, I am sure that you and the old Mr. Hunt are two completely different people," And you are right Ancient one, congratulations. Now, what would you do with this knowledge?

"And what will you do when your homeworld will be in danger? Will you leave it to be slowly destroyed or use your newly gathered power to help it? What makes you different from those that came before you and tried to do the same exact thing?" The Ancient One fired off her questions. This time her tone was firmer.

Well, that escalated quickly.

"I am no hero and I am not a good person. I want to reach my goals, but I won't destroy the world to achieve them if that's what you worry about," I knew it wasn't, but what was I supposed to tell her? That I would go and become a superhero who would save everyone?

Definitely not and even if being an Avenger would be fun, I wasn't that kind of guy. This wasn't even my world, just a place that someone placed me in. Maybe with time, it would change, but for now, it was hard to identify with a world that was always a work of fiction for me.

"I feared that you would say that," The Ancient One said suddenly with a sad smile, "I can see that you are older than you look, but you still have a lot to learn child. Remember you may have your goals now Mr. Hunt, but is it what you really desire? When you will have an answer, find me, and maybe then we will talk about the Mystic Arts."

With that, the woman opened a portal and quickly disappeared from the room. I was left sitting there completely confused at what just happened. Did she really leave me just like that?

And what the hell was that bit about my goals and desires. For me, those were the same things, weren't they?

* * *

My conversation with the Ancient One left me confused for a long time. I tried to understand what she exactly wanted from me. An answer about what? My desires? I saw them in the Mirror of Erised and for me, they were the same as my goals, or at least I thought so.

Still, she said that if I gave her the answer then the Mystic Arts might be finally open to me. How long it would take me to come up with one, I didn't know, but I definitely wasn't going to give up. Those skills were too important to lose and maybe just maybe, the Ancient One was onto something with her question.

Now I was left with a few days until the second year of Hogwarts and during those few days, I began wondering about a few things. Or rather two things...

First was the entire fiasco with the Chamber of Secrets that should happen this year.

Of course, I wasn't going to let it happen. The Chamber was too useful for me, only to lose it so the plot could follow canon. Maybe I had the Room of Requirements available to me, but if I let the young Voldemort enter the Chamber again, he might discover something that would point to me. No, it was too big of a risk to leave the diary Horcrux in the hands of an eleven-year-old girl.

I would just steal it from her either during the feast or when she tried to go to the Chamber for the first time. Riddle might be good, but he would never expect someone to know about him, thus any trap should work, at least I hoped so. Besides he would be in the body of a pre-teenage girl. If that didn't make him weaker then I didn't know what would.

The next thing on my mind was Hogwarts' education or rather when I could finish it. To be honest I didn't really want to wait seven years to leave Hogwarts. While I was pretty sure that later on, I would find a way to leave the school unnoticed to deal with other things, I would still be wasting a lot of time sitting in lessons.

My plans were to at least finish half of the fourth year material during this year and if I kept my current speed then I should be finished with the basic education at the end of the fourth year. The electives also weren't a problem as I was already learning runes and for my second subject, I could take Arithmancy even if it didn't work like all of the fanfictions pictured it.

It worked with numbers, that was true, but it wasn't necessary for creating spells. Helpful maybe, necessary? No.

It was used to study the magical properties of numbers, including predicting the future with numbers and numerology. To be honest, if Salazar didn't tell me that it could also be used to predict how a new ritual would work, I would never bother with the subject.

With those plans, I was pretty sure that I would be wasting my time if I was in Hogwarts until my NEWTs. That was why I would be going to either McGonagall or Dumbledore if it was possible to only pass OWLs in Hogwarts and then maybe instantly go for NEWTs somewhere else. It might bring more attention to me, but at this point, it was that or two more years of wasted time. Besides the war would be starting somewhere during this time, so the sooner I got out the better.

Now I just needed to decide who would give me a better answer. The Headmaster or Head of my House.

Decisions, decisions...

* * *

Something was completely wrong. Like very, very, very... wrong.

Harry and Ron were supposed to arrive during the feast after they crashed Arthur Weasley's flying car. So why the hell were they sitting with me in a compartment on a train to Hogwarts?

Did Malfoy Senior change his plans? He wanted to discredit Arthur with his actions, so it wouldn't make any sense for him to just suddenly change his plans. Also, my appearance in this world couldn't change enough to affect this event.

So why the hell Dobby didn't block Harry from reaching Platform 9 and 3/4? Maybe he was too late this time... Yeah, that must have been it. I would find Ginny and then just take the diary away.

"Logan, how was your summer?" Harry's voice finally reached me.

I turned to look at the trio that barged into my compartment and shrugged, "Pretty good. Some time away from school was definitely welcome, but after a while it got boring when I couldn't use magic. What about you three?"

I didn't really lie here. After all, I couldn't use magic freely and time away from the kids was godsend.

We talked a bit about our Summer, or more like the three talked while I just answered a question from time to time. They were still too young for me to have a comfortable conversation with them, but I could at least try. At least it gave me an opportunity to try and ask a few subtle questions about Harry's home.

Unfortunately, the boy dodged every question about this topic so I just gave up and went back to my thoughts. It wasn't until Ginny Weasley came into our compartment that I went back to the land of the living.

The girl looked... normal. Like she never had the soul-sucking Diary in her hands or tried to write in it. Well maybe it was still too early for any signs to show, but I wasn't going to just ignore it like that. First I tried to feel magic around her just like Salazar taught me and when that didn't show anything, I used a wandless spell that I learned during summer just for this occasion.

It was supposed to detect any traces of foreign magic in a person. Mostly used by healers, but it should work for what I wanted to see.

Only it didn't...

_Huh, maybe she didn't write in the diary yet. Or she really doesn't have it,_ I thought as I felt the outcome of the spell. _This isn't good._

While I didn't wish any harm on the girl, I would prefer for her to have the diary. After all, I could easily recover it and Ginny would be free of its taint. Now I had no clue where the hell the Horcrux was, and that was something dangerous. Maybe I didn't mind changes to canon, but this was Horcrux, not some random event that didn't matter in the long run.

_Shit. Now I have to check every student in the castle and prepare a trap that would work for Riddle if he got a stronger body... Why nothing can be easy._

* * *

This school year would so good if it wasn't for the lost diary. There was nothing dangerous this year that could mess my plans and I would have had the whole year just practice magic and perform more rituals.

Unfortunately, Salazar agreed with me that if there was a chance that the diary was in Hogwarts, I needed to find it. After one month of constant searching, I was pretty sure that the Horcrux just wasn't in the castle. I didn't know why or how, but it just wasn't here. Evidently, something made Lucius change his plans.

"So you are stopping the search," Salazar said after I walked into the Chamber. I wasn't in the best humor, but who would be after a lesson with Lockhart.

The man was so annoying that it really took everything to stop myself from cursing the man. I was really wondering if I shouldn't go along with my plans to get rid of the man early. I would just need to find a good way to do it.

_Maybe a trip to the Forbidden Forest would solve the problem,_ I thought amused, before shaking my head and addressing the portrait, "Yes. I am just wasting time at this point. I will leave the wards and traps at the entrance just in case, but I am ninety-nine percent sure that the diary isn't in the castle."

Salazar nodded, "So be it. At least now we will be able to focus on what we need. I want to finally discover what the Philosopher's stone is hiding and you need to perform another ritual. Your body had enough time to rest."

I raised an eyebrow, "Which ritual do you have in mind now?"

The ancient wizard smirked, "One of the few rituals that affect the mind. My favorite to be exact and don't worry it is harmless. I and most of my heirs used it without any fail."

"Alright, you got my attention," I reluctantly agreed. I wasn't too keen on messing with my mind. My occlumency was good, but I still had a long way to go to master my mind, "What are the effects?"

"It affects the speed of your thought process. While the improvement isn't that big, you will definitely notice the change. You will like it and it will help you with your studies. If it wasn't for the need for steady occlumency shields, it would be the second ritual you have ever performed, but I prefer to play it safe," Salazar explained and it instantly made more sense even if I was a bit curious how my shield would help with the ritual.

I voiced my question and Salazar was happy to answer, "They will keep the magic contained to your mind so it won't mess anything in your body. It will be tiring, but I am confident that you will succeed. After all your strength lay in defensive mind arts..."

That didn't exactly fill me with confidence, but if Salazar thought that I was ready then I would trust him. Still, it wouldn't hurt to devote a bit more time to my occlumency practice. Just to be sure.

"Alright lad, prepare the ingredients, and let's see what the Stone is hiding."

_Oh yes, it will be a long night..._


	15. Who are you?

I switched my gaze from the mass of random letters floating above the ritual site to Slytherin and then back to the ritual site. My brows furrowed as I finally broke the silence, "Oookay... so what am I exactly looking at?"

Salazar, like the usual bastard he was, simply answered, "The outcome of the ritual."

I palmed my face and gave a long sigh, "Right. If you didn't know, I am not a linguist and have no clue what the hell this gibberish is."

Salazar stopped his observation of the hovering letters and almost mechanically turned towards me, "Ah yes. I apologize, but if what I just read is true then we just happened on a goldmine," I opened my mouth to give a quick remark, but the older wizard beat me to it, "No, I didn't mean it like that," he said with a pointed glare.

I waved my hands before nodding towards the ritual site, "Okay, okay. Now if you could explain."

Salazar nodded and turned his gaze back to its previous spot, "We will need to perform more tests to make sure, but I doubt they will tell us anything different. This ritual is never wrong... well almost, but that's not important. Now, this gibberish as you call it is Ancient Greek. It is rare for it to be used with magic so I won't ask you to learn it. Maybe in the future, but not now."

The ancient wizard gestured towards a bunch of letters with his hands, "Everything that the ritual discovered we already knew. Changing any metal into gold and creating the Elixir of Life - and you were right, it only stops aging and doesn't give you back your youth."

Could he finally get on with it? Salazar really loved to talk in circles and it was slowly getting on my nerves. I just wanted to discover what was so special about this stone apart from what we already knew. But no, the old snake couldn't stop himself from monologuing for years...

I stood there for another few minutes, tapping my foot and listening absently to whatever Salazar was going on about. It wasn't important, trust me.

Finally, the old wizard took pity on me and pointed to another a lot smaller group of letters, "Now, this part is something I have never seen before. Oh, I know exactly what it means, but to think I would ever see it for myself."

I groaned loudly, "Alright old man. Get. On. With. It."

Salazar scowled, "Youth... no patience those days," I shoot him a glare, "Right... To put it simply, Nicholas Flamel somehow created an object capable of generating its own energy."

Okay, I didn't expect this.

I raised my eyebrow, "So this little stone can 'use' magic just like wizards and witches?"

Salazar shook his head, "No, no, no, you misunderstood me. It doesn't passively absorb the magic of the universe, it _generates_ it. And let me tell you that it is no small feat as we still don't have a clue where magic comes from."

This fact was slightly disconcerting. Not even my knowledge of this new universe helped us in finding the source. Of course, I would be the first to admit that my information about MCU and the rest of Marvel wasn't perfect, far from it. But Salazar and I hoped that it would get us closer to figuring out this secret.

Well, it didn't.

I frowned, "You think we can somehow use it? Having our own source of magic would be nice, but I'm not gonna lie that I'm out of my depth here. I have one year of magical education and even with my advanced studies this is beyond me."

Salazar set his gaze on the red stone in the ritual circle and tapped his chin, "As it is now? Not really. We can create as much gold and Elixir of Life as you want, but that's all you can use it for. Of course," the wizard smirked, "If we were to somehow transfer the ability to generate magic to another being..." here his eyes fell on me.

"Then I would have something to fall back on if I was somehow separated from magic," I finished the idea before narrowing my eyes, "You think it is possible?"

Oh, I really wanted this to be true. I was quite sure that multiple beings in the universe had the ability to limit wizard's ability to absorb magic, but if I had my own generator to fall back on then it just might save me in some ugly situation. And it would be stupid of me to think that it couldn't happen, not with my goals...

The ancient wizard chuckled, "Logan, didn't I tell you this already? With magic nothing is impossible. We just need time."

"If you say so," I shrugged and collected the Philosopher's Stone.

"It might take us months or even a few years, but it is definitely doable. Just remember that when we succeed, this little addition won't make you overly powerful. It generates energy, that's true, but just enough to make the Stone work. It definitely will speed up the recovery of your magic and give you something to fall back on, but apart from that don't expect any big changes."

Slightly disappointing, but understandable. I was curious if maybe we could use the Stone's ability to create Elixir of Life to lengthen my life span or something like that, but I really doubted it. After all, it wasn't the Stone that halted the aging of a person, but the Elixir. Oh well, something to think about later. Besides immortality wasn't something I required currently.

Shaking my head I picked up Salazar's portrait and walked back to the study. We still had some things to do today.

* * *

I trudged through the entrance to the Great Hall my head almost splitting open. A silent curse left my mouth, damn Salazar and his bloody rituals. I could handle it he said. Not as painful as the previous ritual he assured.

Well fuck, he lied again... Why was I even surprised after all those times he _forgot_ to mention the painful process I needed to go through during the rituals.

I shook my head and immediately winced as the headache came back with full force. Right, no sudden movements, just a slow trek.

Reaching the Gryffindor table I slumped down in a seat near the Golden Trio. I sighed and plopped my head down on the table.

"Fuck," I cursed again at my stupidy. I hoped that the mind improving ritual was worth it all. Salazar reassured me with a very long explanation that the effect would start to appear over the next few weeks.

If he lied to me again? Well, then I would find a way to get my revenge even though he was a damned portrait.

Unfortunately, I still needed to get through this godforsaken Halloween feast. A whine almost escaped my mouth as I wondered what made me perform this stupid ritual in the break between classes and the feast.

Why? Just why?

As someone decided to touch my shoulder, I rolled my head to the right and peeked at the offender with one eye opened.

Fiery red hair, freckles all over the face, male. I squinted my eyes, Ron. Right, I just sat down next to the band of misfits. Should have found a place at the end of the table where I could be alone. Oh well, too late now.

I raised my head from the table and nodded to the trio, "How are you doing this fine evening boys and girls?" I croaked out and almost winced when I heard my voice.

Ron answered first, "Definitely better than you mate. You look like my brothers after a failed experiment... just less energetic."

If I didn't have problems with remaining in a sitting position I would snort. That sounded about right, I had the pleasure of watching the Weasley twins after some of their failed pranks.

Suddenly Hermione's voice reached my ears, "Maybe we should help you to the Hospital Wing or inform a Professor. I am sure they can help if you feel bad."

This immediately gave me enough energy to ignore the hammering in my head and address the young girl, "There is no need to worry the Professors. I am just tired that's all, nothing some rest can't fix."

The bushy-haired witch narrowed her eyes but nodded none the less. She probably didn't believe me fully but refused to argue about it. Understandable, we weren't close friends and her bossy tendencies were getting better with time. I could see her becoming a very good friend for Harry and others.

Of course, it didn't stop the girl from saying her last piece, "You still should visit Hospital Wing tomorrow if it won't pass."

I nodded and smiled at her, "I will Hermione. Thank you for caring guys, but I will be fine. I just wanted to practice some spells and overdid it a bit," I said with a chuckle.

They accepted my reasoning and went back to their previous discussion. They asked me a question from time to time but mostly left me alone. I wasn't sure if it was because of our current relationship or my half-dead state but I was fine just sitting there, eating the food provided by Hogwarts.

The throbbing in my head slowly got weaker and weaker and soon I was sitting straight almost without any problem. I ran through the basic occlumency exercises and again erected some basic barriers in my mind.

Any kind of defense I had, was crushed after the ritual finished. About this Salazar actually warned me as it was a security risk. The man at least knew not to risk my secrets.

As the dishes disappeared, I stood up with the rest of the students and slowly pushed through the mass of bodies. I took a last peek at the Ravenclaw table and sighed.

One student. The previous first year from the House of Ravens disappeared from Hogwarts over the summer. With the whole change to the original plot and research on the Stone, I didn't have the time to check if anyone disappeared during the break.

Week ago I finally decided to do a headcount and well... One student down.

Two days of going through the list I created last year showed that it was a muggle-born female Ravenclaw that disappeared. Again I was nowhere near solving this mystery.

This universe was just too large to find the kidnappers with so small amount of information available to me. Older students didn't know a thing. And Professor refused to talk about this more than necessary. Only the mundane world could help me now. Unfortunately, even after my search last Summer, I didn't find much. I had a few ideas that I could run through, but for that, I needed to go back to London and I wasn't too sure about this plan. Especially not considering my situation.

I shook my head as I slid into my bed. A smile stretched on my face as the warm blanket engulfed my body. Yes, both the kidnappings and disappearance of the Diary troubled me, but I could worry about it tomorrow.

After a tiring day full of magic and pain, I deserved at least some rest.

* * *

The doors squeaked slightly as I swung them open. Like the last time, the eerie lit office of the Headmaster greeted my sight. Fawkes, the phoenix sat, perched in his side of the office and I took his form with a slightly wide-eyed gaze. His crimson and golden feathers illuminated in the low light. Definitely one of the most beautiful creatures I had ever seen in both my lives.

I wasn't really surprised that the magical bird was here. The snow and freezing air outside definitely didn't prove too welcoming for a creature of fire. Lovely December.

I averted my gaze from the exotic bird and turned towards the elderly form of Headmaster sitting behind his desk. Dumbledore gave me a small smile, "It is always wonderful to see the wonder in my student's eyes when they see Fawkes for the first time... Phoenixes, I was lucky to get a companion like him."

Yes, lucky... I wonder how they bonded. If it was ever explained in canon, I didn't remember it. Oh well, maybe one day Dumbledore would humor my curiosity.

My thoughts stopped as the Headmaster chuckled lightly before motioning to the seat across him with a wave, "But that's enough about my familiar. Please sit down Mr. Hunt. I am sure you're curious why I called you here."

_Not really,_ I thought with a shrug as I took his offer.

I knew perfectly why he called me here... Well almost perfectly. You could never be too sure with a man like Dumbledore. People like him just loved to have secrets within secrets... Alright, I might not be too different from him in that regard.

Still, I was pretty sure that Albus and Fury would get along.

Actually never mind. Those two had so many secrets that they wouldn't trust a word the other said. Even then it almost made me giddy when I thought about a meeting between the two. Then the almost nonexistent grin disappeared as I realized that they probably already met each other.

_Oh well..._

"A bit Headmaster. Does it have to do with my decision to go back to London during the Winter break?" I finally asked, my eyes a bit wider to sell my act.

"Indeed," Dumbledore confirmed my thoughts.

I withheld a sigh and leaned back in the comfy chair. So all of this was probably about the same thing as my visit here before the last Summer. Good to know that they were really trying to keep the students safe, even if their attempts didn't fully work.

"To be honest I was a bit surprised when I saw your name on the list. Would you mind rethinking your decision? You know the risks muggle-born students face during breaks," Ah, so that was what it was all about.

My decision to go back to London changed only a week ago. Before that, I planned to stay in the castle and finish my studies of third-year material. It was pretty easy, but with my preparations for future rituals, further studies of the Philosopher's Stone, and every additional thing I wanted to learn, I had little time to speed up my normal studies.

Still, I needed to go back to London for at least a few days so I could continue with my plans. Stagnation wasn't an option and Salazar agreed with me.

After the next ritual, I would be out of some of the most important ingredients, slowing my progress a lot. Stealing from Snape was out. The man already upped his security after some of my trips to his stores.

There was also the little bit I overheard from two half-bloods.

Apparently some technomancers from Japan - _Because that's a thing... Who would have thought? -_ finally managed to make some more advanced muggle technology work with magic for normal wizards. Their products would be hitting the market this Christmas and I planned on getting one of those devices, a mobile phone if they had one.

If I managed to work out how they created it, I might be able to apply the technique to other devices. Besides constant access to the outside world would let me stay up to date.

Apart from that I really needed to run some of my ideas about the kidnappings through the mundane media. During the last two months, I thought a bit of a way to find even a small clue and I was almost positive that one of my plans would work.

Of course, telling Dumbledore about my expensive shopping and a new investigation wasn't an option... Still, twisting the truth always worked.

I shifted in my chair and looked back at the Headmaster who was watching me with a frown, "I wanted to visit the Alley during the break and spend some time with my friends I made during the Summer."

The frown on Dumbledore's face slowly disappeared, "I commend you for not cutting yourself off from your muggle friends, but are you sure it is worth the risk? I am sure some Professors wouldn't mind accompanying you to the Alley even if you stayed in Hogwarts."

_It probably wasn't,_ I thought holding back a scowl, _but I'm not new to risking my life. I have created a few escape routes from my home in London that should get me out in case something happens. I'm not a child._

I shook my head and gave the man a wide grin, "I am sure the protections you and the Ministry provided will be enough Headmaster. Besides I live in a very populated building, wouldn't it be hard for those kidnappers to get me there?"

"Maybe you are right my boy," Dumbledore answered with a smile, even if his eyes told an entirely different story, "Even then you still have two days before you depart from Hogwarts and I would ask you to rethink your decision again. If you really want to go back then the same protections will be applied as during the Summer. Now the dinner should be ready in a few minutes so you better get going Mr. Hunt."

I nodded and as I moved to stand up a single thought stopped my action, "Actually Headmaster, there is something I want to ask you."

Dumbledore raised a single eyebrow and leaned forward a bit, "Go ahead, Mr. Hunt. I will try to answer it to my best ability."

"You see I was wondering if it is necessary to complete NEWTs to leave Hogwarts," I said while looking down at my hands.

For a minute or two only Fawkes' soft thrill reached my ears and my face began to slowly pale as I wondered if maybe I asked this question too fast. Thankfully Dumbledore's next words returned some color to my face.

"No, it's not. But tell me, Mr. Hunt. Do you not enjoy your time at Hogwarts? Is it the reason why you wish to go back to London during the break?" Of course, the man couldn't stop himself from asking more questions than probably necessary...

"Nothing like that Headmaster," I shook my head franticly, "I love Hogwarts. This is the place that showed me what magic is capable of. But I want to see more. This world is wonderful and I want to discover every corner of it."

I added a short laugh at the end and observed Dumbledore for his reaction. After all most of what I have just said was true. I just omitted a few more important reasons why I wanted to get out of Hogwarts faster.

The Headmaster gave me a stare that made me wish that I never asked the question. Suddenly the have gaze disappeared and he gave me a nod, "I understand where are you coming from. The magical world is full of mysteries and wonders only waiting to be discovered... Now about your question. Legally you can leave Hogwarts after completing your OWLs. Of course, you still can't perform magic outside the school before your seventeen birthday."

I slumped down in my chair, "So there is nothing I can do?"

Dumbledore smiled widely, "I didn't say that. You aren't the first student to ask this, so let me give you the same answer I give the rest. While normally you need to be seventeen to get rid of the Trace, you can also go for your NEWTs faster, even right after your OWLs. And after passing at least four of them your trace will be lifted."

My eyes grew wide. Shit, that was exactly what I was looking for. The opportunity to leave the school faster and even getting rid of the Trace. Although...

"Headmaster, can the same be done with OWLs?" I asked, hoping against hope.

The shake of Dumbledore's head was enough of an answer, "No. Only those rare individuals that are homeschooled can pass their OWLs faster, but they rarely do that," the man then raised from his chair and set for the doors, "Now let us depart for dinner. I'm quite famished."

I nodded and followed the ancient wizard through the door.

* * *

I laid down in the old bed in my room and sighed. I have been back in London for three days already.

During the first day, I mostly spent my time watching as Ministry workers again erected wards around my Children's Home. This time I recognized a few of them and my eyebrows rose a few times when I felt some particular wards settling down. I guess they took protecting the magical children really seriously. It was hard to think about the Ministry from canon and this one as the same one.

Meh, maybe the rest of the Ministry was as retarded as the original.

I turned on my side and observed as the low light of the moon shined through the window. _Don't think about the Ministry, it is a headache in the making._

The last two days were spent on checking the protections and planning the rest of the winter break. I wanted to add some wards of my own, but not even my anti-trace wardstone would hide them.

At least tomorrow I planned to hit the Diagon Alley and search for any news about the technomancers' products and resupply my ingredients. I might aswell look for some magical ways to passively protect my residence.

I leaned back into my pillow and closed my eyes. My mind focused on the silence and... wait!

Wave of powerful magic passed me and my eyes instantly snapped open. I ran to the window and peeked outside.

Five people, all dressed in black robes with hoods over their heads.

_Shit! Those aren't ministry workers._

Another flood of power went through the building and as the next ward fell, two new ones took its place. Anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards. Fuckers knew how to do their job.

I rushed towards my wardrobe, my heart pounding. I wasn't getting kidnapped at least not without a fight. _Just follow the escape plan._

I slipped my normal clothes faster than I thought I could and deactivated my wardstone that blocked the Trace. My wand ejected from my battered holster and I instantly cast a few random spells.

If I could avoid the kidnappers for a bit, then it should give the Ministry enough time to get here.

I kept casting random weak spells as I grabbed my stolen kitchen knife in my left hand. This was the exact situation I stole it for. Thankfully most of my stuff was in the Chamber of Secrets so at least I wouldn't lose anything important.

Slipping into the empty corridor I cursed when whispering reached my ears. My heart hammered even faster as I sneaked towards the highest floor.

_They are already inside. Here goes my idea to wake everyone up. I'm not selfish enough to risk everyone's life here when I can escape without their help.  
_

I forced a calming breath. Then took a shaky one and nodded to myself. _Get a grip, I have dealt with worse,_ I thought even as another voice in my head screamed that normally I didn't deal with magically enhanced bastards. I banished this voice to the deepest parts of my mind and pointed my wand at the locked hatch that led to the roof.

With a quick command, the lock clicked and I climbed the ladder.

Throwing the hatch open I put my hands on the freezing roof and shivered. Fucking December.

_Warming charm it is._

A sigh left my mouth as the blanket of warmth enveloped my body. _Much better._ I crouched down and focused a concentrated ball of pure magic into the tip of my wand.

The wand touched the ground and I let my hold on magic disappear.

The ball of magic disappeared into the ground as it shimmered in a dark red light. My brow raised a bit at the color, but I stayed focused as I waited for the feedback of my previous action.

I observed as the red shimmer retracted back to my wand and the information hit me like a train.

One on the first floor, two on the second, and the fourth one was nearing the hatch. I cursed again and tapped my head with my wand. My form flickered and a disillusionment charm took effect. It wasn't as perfect as the one I knew I could cast, but I was working under pressure. Still, it should be enough for what I planned.

I took a position behind the hatch and waited for the first enemy.

No longer than a minute passed as a hooded head peeked through the opening and slowly emerged on the roof.

Not wasting any time, I flicked my wand in quick succession and two spells escaped the tip. The bolts of light rushed at blinding speed towards the cloaked person and hit them before they could even react.

The person froze in place and I closed the distance in a quick step before slashing their throat open with the knife in my left hand. The silencing spell took effect and I watched with a blank stare as the now identified man fell on the roof in a spray of blood.

_My first kill in this new world. As a twelve-year-old at that. Great... I'm moving up in the world,_ I shook my head. Some things just never change. _Once a killer, always a killer,_ I thought with a scowl on my face.

I snatched the cloak from the man and transfigured it into a strong rope. One end I stuck to the roof with a simple spell while the other I threw over the edge of the building.

Grabbing the rope tightly with both of my hands I used the wall to push myself towards the ground. Thankfully it was the second time I had done that so I at least had some experience.

I grinned and dropped on the snow-covered ground. Taking a short peek at my now ex-home, I clenched my fists and began to run as fast as I could.

_Where is the fucking Ministry!_

Gritting my teeth I kept on running as my right hand again began to wave spells over my form. Anything that could hide me, I cast it.

I slipped through the bushes and finally emerged on the main street. A very empty street. It shouldn't be, even at night cars passed this place constantly.

It finally dawned on me as color again left my face. There were more than two wards here, all this time I was running around in their perfectly created playground. _Of course. No plan survives contact with the enemy..._ _I need to get to the wards' border. Then I have a chance._

I kept sprinting through the dark street until the space before me bent unnaturally. _Apparition._ I stopped and threw the first few spells that came to my mind at the new cloaked offender.

The hooded person effortlessly batted the spells away and threw some unknown lights back at me.

I rolled to the right and flicked my wand. Bone breaker, a darker variant of a cutting curse, banisher.

The offender dealt with the spells like they didn't matter and began his own barrage. Lights of multiple colors flew in my direction at varying speeds.

I jumped to the left, erected a shield to block another two curses, and dropped to the ground as a nasty black colored spell passed over my head. My dance continued, as I waved through spell after spell.

Panting, I crouched down. The assault stopped. My lungs almost giving out as the strain finally began to show.

This was too much. I trained a lot, but I was still new to this shit. With no experience in magical fights. My body too young to handle so much magic being thrown around. Rituals helped, but only so much.

Crunching hit my ears, crashing through the rampant hammering of my heart. _Fuck._

I raised my gaze to the approaching attacker. The person looked like he was just taking a stroll through the park. No exhaustion, no wounds.

_Why did I even think I could defeat him. I should have run. Stupid, overconfident idiot._

"You know Mr. Hunt. You are the first magical child that even tried to fight us. Truly incredible," obviously male voice sounded through the empty street, "You are good, boy. Unrefined, but good. You will make a fine asset. If you survive of course... Gersten take him out!"

I never had the time to react as darkness consumed me.


End file.
